life is leaving the salton sea. ter is evaporating, fish are dying and the lakeside retreats are shells of what they ce were. califoia's largest lake, now a portrait of abandonment. but some believe this emptiness can be filled. >> this piece here it has an interesting history too. >> reporter: to hedlar brian tell it, the open air desert museum of east jesus is a living, breathing, experiment in free expression. just off tlt shore of the sa sea, it's a commune that allows painters, sculptors and conceptual artists to th battle he sand, the sun and the wind. lt this is el brino, the lt dinosaur of the sa sea. touch part of it because it's, like, powder, it gopo back to wder. >> reporter: it disingrates. >> ah. totally disintegrates. >> reporter: is that part of aat's going on, disintegration, the idea that thin temporary in this environment? >> that is the message i'm getting th nothing on thi level, on this plane is really worth clinging to 'cause it's just stuff. it's all just stuff. >> reporter: the brain child o