Desert X contemporary art biennial opens in California

Mysterious metallic mirrors, stacks of imported marble boulders and a 3D-printed mud hut appeared in the California desert Saturday, as the biennial outdoor art festival Desert X returned. The free event, which drew 600,000 visitors in its last edition, sends contemporary art-lovers on a treasure hunt to find works scattered across the Coachella Valley, some 100 miles east of Los Angeles.

French-American artist Sarah Meyohas used intricately curved metallic mirrors to reflect and refract the bright desert sunlight, beaming the words "Truth Arrives in Slanted Beams" across the sides of a meandering 400-foot stucco ribbon. Using "caustic" technology based on the way light "plays at the bottom of a swimming pool" to turn sun beams into text. Desert X runs until May 11.