In the middle of the vast venue hosting the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival is a transcendental retreat for concertgoers where aural and visual stimulus is plenty.

In its 8th year at the concert, The Do LaB has become a concert staple and a place where festival fans can drape in the shade, convulse to electronic beats and get lost in art.

Water is also an important part of the environment whether it’s getting blasted with a hose from the stage or lightly sprinkled from the mist floating out of the various structures.

The creators of The Do LaB are the Flemming brothers — twins Jesse and Josh, both 33 and Dede, 32.

The goal is that once concertgoers stumble in they won’t want to leave.

“It’s an oasis. We have water. (It’s) a place of escape that’s otherworldly,” said Dede Flemming.

“You’re fully immersed in our environment,” said Josh Flemming.

Each year the environment
which includes a stage and huge interactive art installations, change.

This year’s creation is inspired by ancient ruins.

It includes a series of 25-foot tall pyramid tent structures with brightly colored “squigglies” that extend up to 55 feet in the air.

The brothers, all from Los Angeles, starting working on a concept about 6 months ago.

They went through five different ideas before settling on the current one which then took a month to build.

Throughout all three days of the festival are stage acts that include various up-and-coming DJ’s and the Lucent Dossier Experience which is a cross between Cirque du Soleil and vaudeville.

“It’s definitely very satisfying seeing people dance, enjoying this space,” said Dede Flemming.(Dede Flemming on left and Josh Flemming on right)

The Do Lab art installation is easily one of my favorite places… ever. I look forward to it every year.

OK, Shrine is the guy, “Shacks” is the structure.

Allow me to elaborate.

I blogged yesterday about a beautiful structure labeled “Shrine” in the Coachella set-list handouts. Today I caught up with the Los Angeles artist, who gave his name only as “Shrine.”

“Everyone calls me Shrine except my mom, my grandmother and my daughter,” he said.

Every day for seven weeks (minus two rainy days) he worked with recycled-materials to build the art piece, he said. There’s one central structure, tall and reverent, with dangling aluminum canisters and lids hanging from tires. Dotting the circumference are lounges that, to me, look like giant Moroccan lanterns.

Shrine titled the work “Shacks,” but today mused he should call it “Empire of Love Shacks.” His goals for the piece were beauty and function, he said.

“I’ve been to Coachella a lot, so I have an idea of what is needed there: a place for people to congregate and meet each other and people-watch,” he said.

Shrine has built stages for past Coachella concerts. Two years ago, he created two structures in the same spot that “Shacks” occupies now, near the Gobi and Mojave tents. One was a similar lounging spot and the other was an “alter-ish shrine” displaying hundreds of drawings and paintings he and his two children had created over 20 years.

To gather materials for “Shacks” he’s been illicitly dumpster diving at Caltech in Pasadena — every day for a month, he said — and at an Italian restaurant near his home.

“Sauce, olives, pineapple, mushrooms, the central chandelier is all out of those kinds of cans,” he said.

The tires are a new feature. He collaborated with artist Natalie Goldfinger, who used 48 to fashion 16 chandeliers.

After weekend two of the festival, parts of the piece will travel to other festivals. Other pieces will become part of a permanent installation in Northern California — a painting studio Shrine will own.

“It’s gonna be really great,” he said.