Meow Wolf started out as a small art collective in Santa Fe in 2008. It is now a leader in the world of immersive art experiences.
The group’s big break came when it attracted the attention of Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who bought a bowling alley and leased it to Meow Wolf as a permanent venue. This became the collective’s first permanent installation, the House of Eternal Return, launched in 2016. Attractions in Las Vegas, Denver and Grapevine followed. A second Texas location is coming in 2024.
“Meow Wolf wouldn’t be what it is today without George’s generous support,” said Vince Kadlubek, Meow Wolf co-founder and director. “He took a chance on us and gave our artists the platform they needed to create the House of Eternal Return.”
“From the very beginning, the Meow Wolf team captured my curiosity,” Martin said. “When Vince first approached me with the idea to buy and renovate a bowling alley, I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, they really sparked my interest and their vision pushed all my buttons — a sci-fi world spanning multiple universes — they delivered something we’ve never seen before.”
Meow Wolf is an innovator in the artainment space, which aims to display art in new ways, often digitally. The group’s venues are brimming with immersive art, secret passageways, portals to other worlds, mixed-reality playgrounds and interactive elements.
Speaking to blooloop in 2021, Carl Christensen, Meow Wolf’s then-chief financial officer and co-CEO, said:
“Meow Wolf brings people together, regardless of their age, gender, political interests, perspectives or hobbies. It removes them from those defining parameters, and encourages them to explore new and unknown possibilities.”
The House of Eternal Return | Santa Fe, New Mexico
The original permanent Meow Wolf exhibition is the House of Eternal Return. This is a unique and imaginative ‘fun house’ in downtown Santa Fe, New Mexico. Opened in 2016, the artainment experience covers 20,000 square feet and features more than 70 immersive rooms. These were created by local and community artists, as well as the Meow Wolf collective.
In Santa Fe, visitors can explore secret passages and play with interactive light and musical objects. The storyline focuses on the Selig family, who vanished after a forbidden experiment at their Victorian mansion. They left behind a series of spectacular dream worlds.
Meow Wolf’s first immersive art venue
“In a lot of ways, Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return is the real watershed moment in the history of immersive attractions, when the worlds of entertainment, media, themed entertainment, and art took notice of just how powerful (and lucrative) the immersive medium could be,” said Kadlubek.
Speaking to blooloop in 2021, Ali Rubinstein, who was then Meow Wolf’s chief creative officer, said the Santa Fe exhibit is “woven with a narrative that is bizarre, interesting, complex and approachable at the same time”. She added, “Inspiring creativity is what we do, and the way we do it is accessible and exciting and fun. I think that’s a pretty good recipe.”
In 2022, the House of Eternal Return unveiled three new permanent portals, created by artists Lauren YS, Jacob Fisher and Virgil Ortiz. Susan Garbett, general manager said:
“While the House of Eternal Return is a permanent exhibition, it is also a living, constantly changing exhibition.”
Omega Mart at Area15 | Las Vegas, Nevada
Meow Wolf’s second permanent installation, Omega Mart, opened as the anchor space at Area15 in Las Vegas in 2021. Billed as ‘America’s most exceptional grocery store’, Omega Mart has four themed areas and 60 immersive environments. It combines purchasable products and art installations. It is more than double the size of the House of Eternal Return at 52,000 square feet.
Meow Wolf CEO Jose Tolosa described Omega Mart as an “impressive feat of ingenuity and artful storytelling.” It includes interactive art, installations and portals to other worlds. Featured artists include Brian Eno, Amon Tobin, Shrine, Beach House and Android Jones.
Additional attractions at the Las Vegas venue include a Tron-inspired office space set in a labyrinth-style maze called Dramcorp. There is also an interactive playground.
Purchasable products and art installations
Omega Mart, says Kadlubek, is “an achievement beyond anything that has been attempted in the world of immersive, balancing storytelling, stunning artwork, and world-class sound that can only be experienced in person to truly understand”. The grocery store is a “masterpiece”, he added, but “once you venture beyond one of the many portals, you find moments of rare artistic achievement”.
Highlights also include the Datamosh bar and a psychedelic area called the Projected Desert. There are installations by local and international artists, and interesting customers. Each door or box of cereal at Omega Mart is a potential entrance to a new world or art experience.
Emily Montoya, co-founder of Meow Wolf, said:
“Whether guests are operating machines in the Factory or transported to the Projected Desert via a trippy portal, Omega Mart is a truly interactive narrative experience.”
Odd products on offer at Omega Mart include Whale Song Antiperspirant/Antidepressant, Nebula Loaf, and Americanized Beef. In its first year, Omega Mart welcomed 1,000,007 visitors. It also sold 4,555 ‘Tattoo Chicken’ T-shirts and more than 3,000 ‘Daikon Pals’ plush toys.
Corvas Brinkerhoff, Meow Wolf co-founder and Las Vegas executive creative director, said:
“The process of creating Omega Mart was a monumental undertaking that sourced the work of 325 artists and collaborators over the course of three years. It was bigger and more advanced than anything we’d ever done before. We are incredibly proud to have not only witnessed it come to life but to see Omega Mart receive such a warm welcome from the Las Vegas and tourism communities.”
Convergence Station | Denver, Colorado
Convergence Station is Meow Wolf’s third permanent exhibit. It opened in September 2021 after Omega Mart. Three years in the making, Convergence Station is the group’s largest installation. It contains artworks by 300 creatives, including 110 artists from Colorado. These include Kalyn Heffernan, Christopher Nelson, Everything is Terrible!, Sofie Birkin and Molina Speaks.
“Our most ambitious project to date, the Denver exhibition is bound to bend minds, inspire creativity, and touch hearts when we open our doors this fall,” said Todd Richins, executive creative producer at Meow Wolf. “From our partnership with artists and collaborators on the venue to the retail and food spaces within our walls, Meow Wolf Denver is a one-stop immersive and imaginative art experience for the ages.”
The attraction is a bustling city for interdimensional travellers created by a rare cosmic event that joined four alien worlds. These are the neon metropolis of C Street, the frozen civilisation of Eemia, the labyrinths of Ossuary, and Numina – where space-time can be transcended. It features four floors of surreal experiences. These are home to Meow Wolf’s iconic art and 70 unique installations, as well as portals, rooms and wormholes.
Portals, rooms and wormholes
Kadlubek said:
“Epic sci-fi fantasy environments like Eemia and Numina are breathtaking in their scope and vision, proving that Meow Wolf deserves to be in the same class of attraction-creators as Disney and Universal. The layout is staggering, with multiple floors and endless hallways that are impossible to map even after consecutive visits.
“Global sound design, vast lore, and incredible monumental sculpture makes Convergence Station a truly unprecedented immersive experience.”
Moment Factory, the multimedia entertainment studio specialising in the conception and production of immersive environments, helped to transform the live performance venue at Convergence Station. Called Perplexiplex, it is a surreal forest that the audience can influence and engage with.
Alexandre Lupien, creative director at Moment Factory, said
“We’re most proud of how social the Perplexiplex experience is. People really engage with each other, share their unique moments, point out their discoveries, and truly live in the moment. Ultimately, we hope that all guests who enter Perplexiplex will be transported into surreal, fantastical worlds, and, most importantly, will share the experience with others.”
Meow Wolf already had a presence in Denver at the Elitch Gardens theme park. In 2019, the team opened a dark ride there called Kaleidoscape, which served as a prequel to Convergence Station. “When we secured the location in Denver for our next permanent exhibition, it turned out to be right next door to Elitch Gardens. We were able to get this opportunity to redo an existing dark ride in their park. So we just jumped at it, like yes – we must do this,” Montoya told blooloop.
The Real Unreal | Grapevine, Texas
Meow Wolf’s latest immersive art experience, The Real Unreal, opened in July 2023 in Grapevine, Texas. The art collective’s fourth permanent exhibition is at the Grapevine Mills shopping mall in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. It was created by the Meow Wolf team and 38 Texas-based artists. This included Dan Lam, Carlos Don Juan, Yana Payusova, Tsz Kam and Sergio Garcia.
“Our goal with curating collaborating artists is to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the artistic voices of Texas, with a focus on North Texas, home to our newest exhibit. At Meow Wolf, we opt to tell stories about our world and worlds beyond through nuanced, timeless science fiction, and I hope the guests will take the time to explore this cohort of artists along with the deeper meaning behind the work that they have created with us,” said Han Santana-Sayles, Meow Wolf’s director of artist collaboration.
Meow Wolf’s immersive art in malls
The new installation contains a series of dreamscapes, otherworldly landscapes, art installations, surreal environments, and Meow Wolf’s iconic portals. “The Real Unreal’s narrative journey takes a leap through the spaces between universes, and is the first major step in connecting the Meow Wolf story universe,” said Dale Sheehan, Meow Wolf’s senior vice president and executive creative director.
Guests are immersed in a new storyline from sci-fi and fantasy author LaShawn Wanak. They can explore more than 30 rooms by 150 artists and fabricators across 29,000 square feet of space. Starting in a house, the story follows a mother and son. Some spaces may feel similar to those in Meow Wolf’s original space for immersive art in Santa Fe.
“The house and the idea of ‘eternal return’ are powerful motifs that formed the catalyst for Meow Wolf’s transformation from a scrappy art collective into the growing company we are today,” said Montoya.
“When participants step into The Real Unreal, they start a cosmic odyssey where surprises await around every corner, and each discovery sparks its own story,” said Sheehan. “Every element in the exhibition weaves together a tapestry of characters, stories, and worlds. The creative energy of The Real Unreal extends beyond the physical, and leads to a potential unlimited host of cosmic side-effects.”
On the new attraction’s location, Kadlubek said:
“Malls have been such an incredible and weird part of the American story, especially for a lot of us that grew up in the ’80s and ’90s. It is an exciting thought that these spaces could be filled with incredible art and immersive experiences, opening a new era of opportunity for the creative economy. We felt like Meow Wolf could help lead the way.”
Meow Wolf’s fifth immersive art exhibition
Meow Wolf’s fifth immersive art exhibition is opening in the Fifth Ward of Houston in 2024. The Fifth Ward is a historical district that has been turned into an arts and cultural destination in recent years.
“Meow Wolf has always been about making art accessible to as many folks as possible, and in areas that may not have as many artistic offerings,” Kadlubek said. “[We] could’ve easily considered areas like Deep Ellum or the Arts District, but thought this was a great opportunity to impact a whole new audience with our work.”
The company is looking at a “very aggressive expansion of our portfolio of exhibitions, nationally and internationally”, Rubinstein told blooloop. “All our exhibitions are going to be born in collaboration with local communities as a social impact art project,” she revealed.
Top image: Hall of Busts at Convergence Station, Denver. Image credit Kate Russell
