Meow Wolf is an arts and entertainment company that creates large-scale immersive art installations and produces arts and music festivals, music videos and streaming entertainment. The company was founded in 2008. Meow Wolf's attractions are located in Santa Fe and Denver, and additional attractions are slated to open in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Washington DC. Its flagship attraction, House of Eternal Return in Santa Fe, is a 20,000-square-foot facility that includes an immersive art installation, learning center, and concert venue.
History
Meow Wolf was formed in February 2008 as an Artist Collective by "a group of young residents hoping to supply Santa Fe with an alternative art and music venue." In 2016 Meow Wolf opened their first permanent installation, House of Eternal Return, which was built by a collective of 135 artists in Santa Fe, New Mexico. As a company, they focus on sharing abilities and processes amongst their artists to create elaborate maximalist art installations with a focus on interactivity, narrative and immersive art.
Early projects 2008–2014
Notable Santa Fe-based installations created by Meow Wolf include "Biome Neuro Norb" a Sci-Fi inspired installation, "Auto Wolf" an installation centered around the destruction and reuse of a donated car, "The Moon is to Live On", a multimedia theatrical play, "Geodecadent I" and "Geodecadent II" a series of installations based on geodesic domes, "The Due Return" an installation consisting of a 70-foot long ship with two levels, and filled with rooms and objects suggesting details of implied fictional inhabitants' lives. In pursuit of teaching collaborative arts practices Meow Wolf formed CHIMERA in 2011. In 2012 CHIMERA worked with approximately one thousand Santa Fe students to create "Omega Mart", a collaborative art installation in the form of a fictitious grocery store stocked with hand-made satirical goods. "Omega Mart" was deliberately placed away from Santa Fe's arts district to attract a more diverse audience. In 2013, CHIMERA began working with the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History's classroom mentorship program for gifted students to create an installation named "Project Dreamscape". Meow Wolf has built notable shows outside of Santa Fe. "Glitteropolis", at the New Mexico State University Art Gallery, used 50 pounds of glitter for the installation. "Nucleotide" was a drippy pastel cave-like installation built by Meow Wolf artists in Chicago at the Thomas Robertello Gallery. The majority of "Nucleotide" was conceived and built in Chicago over a 3-month period by 18 members of the collective.
''House of Eternal Return''
In January 2015, author George R. R. Martin pledged $2.7 million to renovate and lease a vacant bowling alley to create a permanent facility for Meow Wolf. This was supplemented by additional funding, including $50,000 from the city of Santa Fe and $100,000 from a crowd-funding campaign. The installation, called House of Eternal Return opened March 17, 2016. It received a 2017 TEA Award and has been cited as the tenth best music venue in the United States. In 2018, TimeOut Magazine called it one of the 50 best things to do in the world right now. House of Eternal Return is focused around the story of the Selig family, who disappeared after experimenting with interdimensional travel by tapping into a mysterious force known as "The Anomaly" in an effort to bring back deceased family members, causing the house to fracture open paths to alternate dimensions. A secret government organization called the Charter was able to contain the Anomaly's effects and passes off the containment warehouse as an art installation. In January 2018, Meow Wolf announced that it will be opening two new art complexes in Las Vegas, Nevada and Denver, Colorado. On November 29, 2018, the documentary Meow Wolf: Origin Story was released in movie theaters around the United States in a one-time only showing. On January 8, 2019, rock band The Revivalists shot a music video for their song Change at House of Eternal Return. The video was released on February 19, 2019. Ninja Sex Party have filmed music videos at House of Eternal Return for their cover of Africa by Toto and We Built This City by Starship In March 2019, rapper T-Pain filmed a music video for his song A Million Times at House of Eternal Return.
On August 22, 2018, Meow Wolf's Kaleidoscape, an "other-worldly" dark ride based around the concept of entering a piece of contemporary art, was announced for Elitch Gardens Theme Park in Denver, Colorado, replacing Ghost Blasters. According to Meow Wolf, the attraction is intended as a prequel to their blockbuster Denver exhibit opening in 2020.
