Coachella Caterpillar & Butterfly – Caterpillar’s Longing

by: Poetic Kinetics

Caterpillar’s Longing, better known as Coachella Caterpillar & Coachella Butterfly, was Poetic Kinetics’ Coachella art project for 2015.  This art installation encompassed two pieces, Papilio Merraculous (Coachella Caterpillar), and Desiderium Eruca (Coachella Butterfly).  Together they create one piece symbolizing the social appetites of our youth in the journey of self-discovery and personal transformation.

For Immediate Release:

MEET ‘CATERPILLAR’S LONGING’ (KNOWN AS COACHELLA CATERPILLAR & BUTTERFLY), POETIC KINETICS’ NEWEST CREATION AT THE COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL 

#CoachellaCaterpillar WANTS TO KNOW 

“WHO R U?” 

April 10, 2015 – Today in Indio, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival reveals the fifth installment of Poetic Kinetics’ larger-than-life “Coachella Creature” that has become part of the festival’s iconography, roaming the polo field each year. Attendees began speculating weeks before gates opened on what kind of “Coachella Creature” Poetic Kinetics may bring. Last year’s Coachella Astronaut and the previous years, Coachella Snail, garnered record-breaking groundswell across the social mediascape and have become an act to anticipate at the festival alongside the musical artists on the bill.

“Caterpillar’s Longing”, better known as Coachella Caterpillar & Coachella Butterfly) represents the social appetites of our youth or the journey of self-discovery and personal transformation that are often a part of the festival experience. The team also hoped to shed light on a little known, albeit vital, issue impacting our ecosystem in that the monarch caterpillar and butterfly are in imminent threat of extinction due to the lack of milkweed and destruction of their natural habitat.  More information about Poetic Kinetics, #CoachellaCaterpillar, and the importance of milkweed to the monarch species is found here.

This gargantuan kinetic sculpture (90’ long x 17’ in diameter) was modeled after the Monarch Caterpillar. Situated around a 12-ton variable reach industrial forklift on a PVC and fabric façade, Caterpillar’s Longing can raise its head to a height of up to 45 feet into the air. 

It also features an innovative mechanical walking leg system designed to simulate the naturalistic slinky motion of a caterpillar, plus six animatronic legs, which gives it the ability to crawl about the grassy fields as if in search of friends, music, or a big bowl of milkweed. Other internal systems control illumination technology to endow the creature with a soft and unforgettable bioluminescence at night. In addition, this installation marks a landmark achievement in festival technology as the first-ever art installation at a festival to communicate with attendees via a mobile app. Those within Bluetooth range will receive a notification from the Coachella 2015 App. Messages direct from Coachella Caterpillar & Coachella Butterfly bring this piece to life encouraging fun interactions between festivalgoers and #CoachellaCaterpillar while giving this creature a real-time voice and personality.  

By interacting with the community in this way Caterpillar’s Longing reminds us that we exist in a world where, whether or not it’s intentional, the way we live our lives has an impact on each other and the environment. The Caterpillar’s search for milkweed, for instance, is essential to its natural maturation process much like one might hold that music is for the youth.  By viewing the festival as a stage for personal growth and self-discovery it becomes possible to imagine the community as a transformative cocoon. Perhaps then, through experiences like those found at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival a chrysalis of personal change can form around us in the music we love and the friendships we make so that upon heading back out into the world something new and beautiful can emerge – and fly.