Hippos run the media
An installation called “Network Operations” at Coachella staged a satirical scene of a group of hippos running a media conglomerate—complete with mission‑control monitors and a buzzing craft climbing into a screen‑filled room. (desertsun.com) (latimes.com)
At Coachella 2026, a giant installation called “Network Operations” put hippos in charge of a fictional media empire. (ocregister.com) The piece sits between the Coachella Stage and the Outdoor Theatre at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, and local station KESQ reported that it rises more than 60 feet. Actors in hippo masks perform inside the structure for festivalgoers watching from the ground. (kesq.com) The Los Angeles art duo Dedo Vabo built the work as a fake corporate headquarters for newspapers, podcasts, radio frequencies and broadcast operations. The Los Angeles Times described a buzzing drone climbing into a control room full of hippos in rumpled suits on April 12. (latimes.com) The joke has a long history at this festival. Coachella’s art program says Dedo Vabo’s “Hippo Empire” previously appeared as “Power Station” in 2013, “Corporate Headquarters” in 2015 and “Hazardous Interstellar Planetary Operations” in 2019. (coachella.com) Those earlier versions gave the animals a power company, a corporate office and an eight-story rocket program. The Desert Sun reported in 2019 that the rocket installation placed hippos inside a white spacecraft rising from the festival grounds. (desertsun.com) This year’s version moved from industry and space into media. KESQ said organizers framed it as commentary on modern information systems, branding and large-scale messaging, while Dedo Vabo’s Derek Doublin told the Los Angeles Times the hippos reflect society with “dark, absurdist humor.” (kesq.com) (latimes.com) The installation also marks the troupe’s first Coachella return since 2019. The Los Angeles Times said the hippos started in downtown Los Angeles art events in 2008, while Coachella’s artist page says they were “birthed” at the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk in 2011 before reaching the festival in 2013. (latimes.com) (coachella.com) Coachella has long treated large-scale art as part of the event, not just decoration. The festival says its curators commission installations to function as landmarks, public space and icons across the Empire Polo Field. (coachella.com) By Sunday night, if Dedo Vabo follows its usual script, the operation is supposed to collapse. That ending fits the running bit: hippos seize another institution, flail at the controls, and lose it in public. (latimes.com)
