5,000-7,500
attendees at Year X scale
Bombay Beach Institute
10 years of making art at the end of the world.
From renegade arts gathering to international think tank.
The Bombay Beach Institute transforms a site of ecological crisis into a living, participatory museum where art, community, and cultural renewal converge.
Mission
What happens when artists take over a town?
For ten years, the Bombay Beach Biennale has been the answer: a radically non-commercial gathering at the edge of the Salton Sea where site-specific art, experimental philosophy, and collective hospitality converge.
There are no tickets, no commerce, no advertising or marketing. The dates are never published publicly. They are spread by word of mouth. The Bombay Beach Biennale is not a festival, nor is it a spectator sport. It is a living inquiry into the power art has when it leaves institutions behind.
Core principles
- Radical accessibility over exclusivity
- Place-based practice over spectacle
- Community-rooted culture over extractive programming
Scope and scale
BBB 2026 is the public culmination of a full season of creative activity developed in collaboration with the town.
150+
participating artists
$40K+
artist grants distributed
300+
volunteers and community participants
Year X programs
A multi-day gathering built from a full creative season.
Large-scale installations
Academic philosophy conference
Opera, ballet, and circus
Performance art and experimental theater
Film festival and literary conference
Live music, rituals, and gatherings
Budget and why now
A $250,000 platform built without selling a single ticket.
BBB operates on a radically accessible model: no tickets, no VIPs, no commercial sponsorship, no commerce. Philanthropic support is critical to maintain that ethos while expanding infrastructure, programming, and long-term sustainability.
Production
Food, medic, permits, insurance, housing, portapotties, and contingency.
30%
Impact: Creates a safe container for ambitious public art and performance.
Artist grants
Direct funding for new work, with a focus on expanding access and equity.
20%
Impact: Puts resources directly into artists' hands.
Team and operations
Fair wages for core producers and organizers sustaining the work year-round.
20%
Impact: Keeps the project collaborative, safe, and durable.
Fundraising
Dinners, auctions, Patreon stewardship, and community support-building.
7.5%
Impact: Cultivates a support circle without compromising the ethos.
Satellite projects
Support for the philosophy conference, film festival, and related cultural programs.
7.5%
Impact: Expands exchange beyond the grant program.
Administration
Legal, accounting, digital tools, and fiscal sponsorship infrastructure.
5%
Impact: Builds transparency and long-term sustainability.
Documentation
Photo and video storytelling that preserves the movement's collective history.
5%
Impact: Extends visibility and legacy beyond the desert.
Civic engagement
Community feasts, youth programming, and partnerships with local residents and organizations.
5%
Impact: Strengthens the cultural fabric of Bombay Beach.
Origin story
A town at the edge of collapse and renewal.
The story of BBB and BBI begins in Bombay Beach, California: a half-mile by half-mile town with roughly 250 full-time residents, three hours from Los Angeles, 45 minutes from the nearest grocery store, and summer temperatures that reach 120 degrees.
Past
Once a thriving resort town on the Salton Sea, Bombay Beach was a postwar playground of yacht clubs, marinas, and cocktail lounges before rising salinity and agricultural runoff triggered decades of decline.
Transformation
When BBB began in 2016, much of the town was abandoned and arts activity was nearly invisible. Artists started reactivating vacant spaces through installations and performances, reshaping the town's cultural narrative.
Now
What began as a local experiment has grown into an international arts movement dedicated to radical accessibility, place-based practice, and community-rooted cultural production.
2016-2026
From grassroots happening to cultural movement.
From Year 0 to Year X, the artist movement grows from a local experiment into a year-round cultural ecosystem.
Year 0
2016
The Art of Decay
The first Biennale lasts 24 hours with 30 artists, five academic lectures, and fewer than 500 attendees.
Year 1
2017
The Way the Future Used to Be
Programming expands to two days, artist participation doubles, and attendance reaches roughly 1,000 people.
Year 2
2018
God's Silence
Artists begin purchasing properties and building large-scale permanent installations as the gathering takes over a full weekend.
Year 3
2019
Post-Modernism
Participation reaches 115 artists and 2,000 attendees as national attention grows around the question of whether artists can help save the Salton Sea.
Postponed
2020-21
Seasonal commitment
BBB goes dark during COVID-19, but artists remain in Bombay Beach and the movement deepens its year-round commitment to place.
Year 6
2022
Questioning Hierarchy
The Biennale returns with its renegade spirit intact, proving the movement can reassemble without losing its core ethos.
Year 7
2023
Chaos Theory
BBB incorporates as an LLC, hires its first staff member, and stabilizes production while staying intentionally humble.
Year 8
2024
White Gold
The Public Art Grant Program launches and distributes more than $40,000 in grants, with over 150 artists and roughly 5,000 guests participating.
Year 9
2025
Convivium: The Institute is born
BBB shifts to an every-other-year rhythm and BBI is formed to extend the movement's commitment beyond the Biennale itself.
Year X
2026
The Last Judgement
BBI becomes the fiscal sponsor, receives 501(c)(3) status, and produces three months of free public programming alongside the tenth anniversary Biennale.
Introducing BBI
Building permanence from ephemerality.
What does it mean to build permanence from ephemerality?
Experiments in
- Social terraforming
- Creative world building
- Alternative governance
As a steward of Bombay Beach's evolving identity, BBI facilitates residencies, interdisciplinary conferences, and public programming that bridge local and global communities.
Through art, philosophy, and radical hospitality alongside the Bombay Beach Biennale, the Institute creates a space where artists, thinkers, and visionaries redefine the possible. In a secluded part of the desert, theory transforms into praxis through lived experience and real-world application.
The Institute is a driving force behind community organizing and the Bombay Beach hivemind, creating a living archive of resources, innovations, and programming while cultivating practical experiments in a place defined by environmental catastrophe and socioeconomic collapse.
Cultural renewal
Transform ecological crisis into a site of artistic invention and civic imagination.
Local engagement
Root the work in residents through year-round stewardship, programming, and shared authorship.
Environmental dialogue
Confront the realities of the Salton Sea directly and turn them into public conversation.
Bridging local and global
Position Bombay Beach as an international destination for experimental art while preserving its renegade ethos.
Impact
Cultural renewal with tangible local effects.
The Institute's impact is economic, cultural, and communal at once.
5,000-7,500
attendees at Year X scale
150+
participating artists
$40K+
artist grants distributed
300+
volunteers and community participants
Economic impact
The Institute contributes to Bombay Beach's local economy by increasing tourism, short-term lodging, revenue for local businesses, and seasonal employment.
- Increased tourism and overnight stays during programming seasons.
- Revenue for local businesses, vendors, and workers.
- Seasonal jobs tied to production, hospitality, and stewardship.
Cultural influence
What began as a grassroots experiment now holds a distinct place within the international art ecosystem.
- Coverage in major publications and curatorial networks.
- Participation from leading contemporary artists and thinkers.
- Residencies and collaborations that extend beyond the Biennale itself.
Community programming
Impact extends beyond the event through year-round public engagement rooted in the town itself.
- Youth workshops and arts education programs.
- Community feasts, food programs, and artist talks.
- Skill-building and stewardship projects with local residents.
Leadership
Artists, producers, philosophers, and builders.
Co-founders, directors, advisors, and founders shaping the Institute's cultural, civic, and philosophical work.
Co-founders
Core leadership
Tao Ruspoli
Co-founder
Filmmaker and cultural provocateur whose vision helped transform Bombay Beach into an unlikely epicenter of experimental art, bridging cinema, philosophy, and radical hospitality.
Dulcinee DeGuere
Executive Director and Co-founder
Executive Director of BBI and systems architect of BBB. Working at the intersection of art, community, and experimental governance, she leads strategy, fundraising, and year-round programming.
Caitlin Roshani
Producer and Community Manager
Leads production and community relations for BBB and BBI, ensuring cohesive execution across teams and projects. She started as a volunteer in 2018 and joined formally in 2023.
Board
Board of directors
Jamie Dunphy
Founder of Idea Parade, a creative studio and cultural platform producing large-scale public art, immersive installations, and brand collaborations.
Meredith Winner
Co-founder of Building 180, producing large-scale public art installations and artist residencies that activate civic space and support creative communities.
Mark Mack
Principal of Mack Architect(s) and an internationally recognized architect known for experimental residential and cultural design, as well as a long-time Bombay Beach resident.
Advisors
Board of advisors
Jay Jopling
Founder of White Cube, one of the most influential galleries in the world, known for shaping the careers of generation-defining artists and redefining the global commercial art landscape.
Mark Wrathall
Incoming Dean of Philosophy at the University of Oxford and a leading scholar of phenomenology and existential thought, known for his work on Heidegger and the philosophy of agency.
Hikari Yokoyama
Curator and cultural strategist, and co-founder of Paddle8, known for connecting artists, collectors, and institutions through innovative cultural platforms.
Sean Dorrance Kelly
Dean of Arts and Humanities at Harvard University and a leading scholar on the philosophy of meaning whose work explores how shared cultural practices shape human purpose.
Origins
BBB founders
Stefan Ashkenazy
Hotelier and visionary founder of Petit Ermitage, often described as the Salvador Dali of hospitality, known for creating immersive, dreamlike environments that blur the line between art and experience.
Lily Johnson White
Philanthropist and public art enthusiast whose patronage and advocacy have supported the growth of ambitious, site-specific cultural programming in Bombay Beach and beyond.
Tao Ruspoli
Filmmaker and cultural provocateur whose vision helped transform Bombay Beach into an unlikely epicenter of experimental art, bridging cinema, philosophy, and radical hospitality.
Support
Become a BBI conspirator.
The Institute exists alongside people living on the edge of environmental and economic precarity. Art does not solve everything, but it gathers people, resources, and imagination in ways policy alone cannot.
Your support ensures that this experiment, this improbable city of artists at the Salton Sea, survives, endures, and thrives.
Reach out if you would like to make a wire donation, start a giving conversation, or support the long-term future of this cultural experiment.
Why now
Support at this stage does not simply sustain the Biennale. It shapes what the Bombay Beach artist movement becomes next: residencies, public programming, and durable local partnerships.
Funding is part of how BBI protects radical accessibility while building the infrastructure needed for the next decade of cultural experimentation.