Meow Wolf Las Vegas Omega Mart: Photo Tour and Interview

Santa Fe based immersive experience Pioneers and the art collective Meow Wolf have a surprising fairy godmother: game of Thrones Creator and resident of New Mexico George RR Martin, a key early investor in the project. Meow Wolf now has more outposts – including the Omega Mart in Las Vegas – and plans to add more.

To rewind a little, in 2016 Martin — a patron of the Santa Fe art scene — helped Meow Wolf co-founder Vince Kadlubek and his team open the House of Eternal Return, an old bowling alley converted into a permanent art installation. where visitors can traverse fantastical realms created by local artists. “They explained this vision of a Victorian house, detached from time and space, with a haunted forest and a magical cave system and portals to other worlds,” Martin shared NPR. “And of course it pushed all my buttons. I love stuff like that.”

I first heard about Meow Wolf from a friend who was visiting in 2019, when it was more of a word-of-mouth cult phenomenon. Back then, people spoke about it cautiously so as not to spoil the experience, saying things like “it looks like a bowling alley from the outside but it’s a lot bigger inside” and refused to elaborate on what it was exactly because they wanted you to discover it for yourself.

Even now, I don’t want to completely spoil what’s inside, or what it is – aside from the fact that it’s unlike anything you’ve ever experienced as an immersive art installation. For one thing, it’s not a parade of social media photo ops calling themselves a museum. It has a core that takes you on a visual and tactile journey to find what you want in its sci-fi fantasy visions. It was worth getting stuck in a snow storm during a New Years Eve road trip when my husband and I spent too many hours indoors.

Every location is transformative. In 2021 I visited Convergence Station in Denver, Colorado; While completely different from the Santa Fe attraction, it still shared the heart of the journey I experienced there as I wandered through Bladerunner-like side streets. A few months ago, io9 was invited to visit the Omega Mart in Las Vegas, also opening in 2021, where visitors can continue to journey through the multiverse created by the project’s powerful artistic voices.

It is an alternative vision of the healing and prosperity of humanity, not through individualism but as a collective. Meow Wolf communications officer Kati Murphy agreed. “Meow Wolf fills in and bridges gaps. Portal hopping has always been part of the Meow Wolf experience, starting with stepping through the refrigerator door at the House of Eternals in Santa Fe,” she said. “Once inside, hopefully the creations of dozens of artists will lead you to your own change of perspective as well. The world needs transformative creativity more than ever, and we hope to give a boost to others through the work of the artists we build worlds with and collaborate with.”

Omega Mart is embedded AREA 15 in Las Vegas, behind a grocery store-inspired frontage imbued with a touch of dystopia. But beneath the shiny facade are encouragements and messages that lead you to inner paths; They open as you move through his warped vision of consumption to paths that lead to higher consciousness. Having it right next to the neon-decorated Strip is somehow subversive and awesome, and serves as a clever counterpoint. Omega Mart representative Michael Duffield shared that some guests bought tickets and almost didn’t go through the hidden portals.

Meow Wolf’s current exhibits are already pushing the boundaries of what art installations can be, and the group is now looking even further into the future. “We want to take people beyond our physical experiences — so this year we’ll be taking our first steps outside the walls of our exhibitions in cross-reality spaces, bringing the creativity of our artists to you, regardless of your physical location in the multiverse,” revealed Murphy and added that the portals will soon be expanded at the digital frontier as well as new locations due to open this year. “We are excited to be opening our next location in Grapevine, Texas this summer. The subject area is strictly closed until the opening, [but] I can tell you that Grapevine will be a revelation of Meow Wolf’s ability [tell stories] with characters people will love.”

“We also featured our collaborating artists taking a look at what’s behind these building barriers, so there might be a few more clues,” Murphy added. We look forward to the opening of Grapevine and stay tuned for more news about Meow Wolf Houston opening in 2024.

Here are some more looks at Meow Wolf’s Omega Mart!