A CREATIVE STRATEGY, PUBLIC ART, EVENTS, AND PRODUCTION AGENCY.
Public Art Company is a multi-disciplinary agency devoted to creating compelling public art, experiential installations, and cultural programming.
Founder Raffi Lehrer is a curator and producer born and raised in Los Angeles. For over 10 years, he has developed and produced large-scale installations, immersive exhibits, and cultural programming at events such as Art Basel, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and Design Miami. When he isn’t on ways to bring art into unexpected places he can be found in LA tending to his plants or deciding what to cook for his wife, writer/editor Alana Hope Levinson.
Theo De Meyer of the collective Stand Van Zaken designed The Terminal stage at Desert Air as an immersive space that blurs the line between arrival and departure, where beats pulse and time warps. Drawing inspiration from Palm Springs' mid-century modern textures, plane terminals, flight boards, and repurposed industrial materials, The Terminal is a dynamic assemblage that transforms elements like corrugated metal and plywood into a stage, dance platforms, and abstract light sculptures shaped like smoke stacks and paper airplanes. Set within the vast industrial hangar of the Palm Springs Air Museum, The Terminal merges the transient nature of travel with the timeless experience of sound.
Babylon by Nebbia made its debut at Coachella 2024, created by the London-based international architecture and design studio led by Madhav Kidao and Brando Posocco. Spanning 60' x 60' x 60', Babylon is an assembly of precisely stacked monoliths, made up of 64 steel-framed modules, each wrapped in plywood and coated with eco-friendly, plant-based cellulose insulation. The exterior commands attention as a striking blend of the primitive and the otherworldly, while the interior opens up to an immersive experience, transformed by 360-degree projections.
For Coachella 2023, LA-based designer Güvenç Özel unveiled Holoflux, a 60-foot-tall sculpture with a steel structure wrapped in iridescent fabric, reflecting the desert sun. By night, Holoflux displayed a series of 3D-mapped digital art, some of which was generated from cameras that face outwards from the projectors, modulating images of the surroundings.
For Playa Luna Presents, the luxury destination event producer, Public Art Company works across seven festivals a season, designing art and environmental elements that are tailored to each show.
From concept development to installation, we transform the resort venue in the Mexican Riviera Maya through art installations, bars, furniture, signage and other elements that seamlessly fit the overall brand. PAC’s approach is to bring a mix of the client’s existing resources with enough newly designed elements each year to keep the venue fresh for returning patrons. We prioritize local sourcing, fabricating in Mexico, and working with Mexican artists and designers.
Public Art Company art directed and produced the StockX Pavilion for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2022. Working with Office Kovacs, we art directed and produced a space to give festival goers a moment to pause and relax in an environment inspired by the StockX Coachella collection. The colored turf, chainlink fence, and wedges composed of common industrial materials in an exuberant palette became beacons for people to meet up, eat, drink, and take a much needed nap. Kovacs drew inspiration from James Wine's retail spaces for Williwear and skateparks.
Sarbalé ke —which means “the house of celebration” in Moré— was designed by the world renowned Berlin-based Burkinabe architect Francis Kéré for Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2019. The series of 12 colorful steel and wood towers (some as tall as 60 feet) were inspired by the African baobab tree and architecture of Kere’s birthplace, Gando, Burkina Faso. A smaller version was placed permanently in Indio, a stones throw from the festival grounds.
Colossal Cacti by LA-based Office Kovacs was among the most photographed aspects of the Coachella 2019 festival. Made of 7 steel and wood cacti ranging in height from 14 to 60 feet the forms, and pattern referenced the roadside architecture associated with the American South West while the use of bright and fun colors complimented the backdrop of the California sun and Coachella Valley.
Etherea was conceived by the acclaimed Italian artist, Edoardo Tresoldi, using the artists’ signature technique of constructing ephemeral architectural spaces out of wire mesh. The three sculptures’ ghostly appearance against the big open desert sky belies the fact that they reach heights of 75 feet. After Coachella 2018, part of Etherea was made a centerpiece in of a new park in the city of Coachella where it’s displayed permanently. This park is a centerpiece in the revivification of downtown Coachella.
The Desert Trip Photography Experience was a photo exhibit curated specifically for the Desert Trip concerts in Fall 2016, which highlighted the participating acts -- the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, The Who, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. The gallery featured about 250 prints from over 18 different photographers as well as a section dedicated to the Michael Ochs Archives (courtesy of Getty Images). All housed in a 36,000 sq ft tent with a full bar and lounge for the two weekends of the festival.
Raffi Lehrer of PAC was the art director and production manager of DTPE while working at Goldenvoice alongside a team of talented producers and photographers. His aim for the show was to celebrate both the bands as well as the photographers who lived, partied, and recorded their careers for posterity. Didactics for each print included a snippet from the photographer — giving the festival attendees a window into the moment they captured.
Whether it's for a Capital Improvement Project or a Private Development Art project we go beyond production. We are a full-service agency, capable of executing and designing unique experiences that connect audiences, stakeholders, and artists. We are experienced in the management, production, and execution of creative components, in addition to logistics needs including permitting, documentation, and budgeting so crucial for a successful project management.
Shown here: Installing Etherea by Edoardo Tresoldi for Coachella 2018.
Proposal development, project management, fabrication consulting, and event production. We do the dirty work, so you don't have to.
Shown here: Laboratory for Embodied Intelligence with artist Nina Waisman and choreographer Flora Weigmann, produced with Fulcrum Arts for Arroyo Seco Weekend 2018. Image Courtesy Goldenvoice.
Developing and producing temporary installations and activations that leave an indelible mark long after they've been taken down.
Shown here: Spectra by NEWSUBSTANCE for Coachella 2018. Image Courtesy Goldenvoice.
Producing events and public programming with institutions, foundations, and brands across the US.
Shown here: #NASAVISIONS, produced with The Studio at Jet Propulsion Laboratory for Arroyo Seco Weekend 2018. Image Courtesy Dan Goods
We provide design, curatorial, and production services for art and programming both publicly and privately commissioned. Our multi-disciplinary team can produce large-scale permanent installations as well as short-term experience design. With a diverse global network of artists, designers, architects, engineers, and experienced fabricators we can execute projects at any scale.
Shown here: Installing Sarbalé ke by Francis Kéré for Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, April 2019.
Whether it's for a Capital Improvement Project or a Private Development Art project we go beyond production. We are a full-service agency, capable of executing and designing unique experiences that connect audiences, stakeholders, and artists. We are experienced in the management, production, and execution of creative components, in addition to logistics needs including permitting, documentation, and budgeting so crucial for a successful project management.
Shown here: Installing Etherea by Edoardo Tresoldi for Coachella 2018.
Proposal development, project management, fabrication consulting, and event production. We do the dirty work, so you don't have to.
Shown here: Laboratory for Embodied Intelligence with artist Nina Waisman and choreographer Flora Weigmann, produced with Fulcrum Arts for Arroyo Seco Weekend 2018. Image Courtesy Goldenvoice.
Both Public Art Company and its team have collaborated with institutions and event promoters such as the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, The Huntington Gardens, Goldenvoice, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Playa Luna Presents and companies such as Amazon, Instagram, StockX and Spotify.
We’ve also worked with a diverse range of talented artists and designers such as Francis Kéré, The Haas Brothers, Jimenez Lai, Oana Stănescu, Güvenç Özel, Phillip K Smith III, Shahryar Nashat, and Tanya Aguiñiga.
Whether it's a one-time event, long term programming, or a permanent installation, we conceive destinations that bring people together.
