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It’s official: The two-month-long Coachella Valley biennial known as Desert X will not include a relocated Judy Chicago piece, the artist has told The Times, and the cancellation of the work is threatening a smoke sculpture planned for San Francisco’s de Young museum in mid-October.
Chicago’s Desert X smoke sculpture and performance, “Living Smoke: A Tribute to the Living Desert,” was supposed to take place in April over 1,200 acres at the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. The Palm Desert organization, which had approved the work,
canceled it after activist, longtime local resident and former Times staffer Ann Japenga raised concerns about the artwork’s effects on the animals in the region.