Step into a living portrait of the Sonoran Desert with Desert Botanical Garden’s newest experience—FRAMERATE: Desert Pulse. This groundbreaking exhibition captures an entire year in the desert’s life through five monumental video installations powered by LiDAR technology. Every frame reveals the unseen rhythms, growth, and movement of the Valley’s landscapes like never before.
Unlike any exhibit the Garden has ever showcased, Desert Pulse invites guests to journey along the trails and into The RAF Exhibit Gallery, where time-lapse imagery composed of thousands of scans transforms ordinary desert moments into breathtaking visual symphonies. Watch cacti bloom in bursts of color, see saguaros stretch toward the sky, and witness nature’s pulse rendered in luminous 3D.
What You’ll Discover in Desert Pulse:
Saguaro
An icon of the Sonoran Desert, the saguaro takes center stage throughout the exhibit—including a poignant clip of one captured in McDowell Mountain Preserve before it fell last summer. In ELSEWHEN at the Lewis Desert Portal, you’ll see saguaros expand and contract to conserve water and grow upward in mesmerizing time-lapse—a rare glimpse into the slow dance of desert life.
Prickly Pear Species
In PRESENT ECHOES at the Ottosen Entry Garden, thousands of images reveal the subtle shifts and seasonal rhythms of the prickly pear. Watch bright yellow blooms unfold inside The RAF Exhibit Gallery as these resilient cacti add bursts of color to the digital landscape.
Echinocereus Species
Inside Calyx and Desert Pulse at The RAF Exhibit Gallery, encounter the stunning magenta-pink flowers of the Echinocereus species—one of the most photographed and celebrated visuals of the show. Captured by ScanLAB Projects in London, the detail is so vivid it feels like standing inside a bloom itself.
Tephrocactus Species
Known for their spherical segments and delicate, parchment-like spines, these South American natives come alive on screen with ghostly white blossoms that seem to float and shimmer across the displays at Calyx and Desert Pulse.
Cylindropuntia Species (Cholla)
Encounter chollas in full motion at PRESENT ECHOES. Watch as these resilient cacti sway, shed, and regenerate—an elegant reminder of the desert’s cycle of renewal—welcoming guests as they first step into the Garden.
Don’t miss Desert Pulse, now on view at Desert Botanical Garden. Experience the desert’s heartbeat in motion and discover beauty that’s often invisible to the naked eye.
Reserve your tickets today at desertpulse.org.
