The TED staff is plugged in here at the Palm Springs Riviera Resort and Spa, preparing for the simulcast event. Co-hosts Kelly Stoetzel of TED and Rives went exploring the environs yesterday and found a strange world dotted with curious structures and surreal art installations.

Rives at the Joshua Tree National Park

Installation by Noah Purifoy

Left: One artifact from Kymaerica, by Eames Demetrios / Right: Rives

At the border of Andrea Zittel‘s A-Z workshop

Photos by TED’s Lara Stein.