Desert X Artists Dig Beneath the Sandy Surface Artworks in this year’s biennial, scattered around the Palm Springs area, explore issues of land rights, water supply and more. Nicholas Galanin’s “Indian Land,” part of the Desert X biennial, greets visitors to Palm Springs near its welcome center and tramway.Credit...Jim Mangan for The New York Times Published March 12, 2021Updated March 13, 2021 PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The odds were fully stacked against the Desert X biennial taking place this year. Bigger and better-organized destination exhibitions have punted on their plans since the pandemic struck, and even in the best of years, Desert X, which commissions site-specific public art in and around Palm Springs, has a hard time raising money to realize its projects. Its decision two years ago to accept funding from the Saudi Arabian government for a spinoff event caused prominent board members to resign and artists to speak out in protest.