The new exhibition, the name of which is still under wraps, will use a real-life former movie theater as its foundation: a shuttered Cinemark theater in the HHLA entertainment complex in West L.A. The Times reveals that guests can expect otherworldly interactive elements in the theater, like “animated, sentient candy” at the concession stand, and a number of short films that parody different movie genres. After traversing the portal into the unknown they’ll explore an “intergalactic roadside attraction” that includes a diner (hopefully one as intricate and entertaining as the Cowboix Hevvven dive bar at their Houston location Radio Tave). It’ll also feature something described as a “reverse escape room”—a hidden chamber that guests will have to follow clues to find.
If you’ve never been to a Meow Wolf exhibition before, they start in a familiar location—a grocery store, a house, the lobby of a radio station—that, from the outside, appears normal. Look closer and you’ll find a playful, art-damaged sense of surrealism, as in the Adbusters-ish products and commercials inside Omega Mart. Their psychedelic nature is generally hidden from guests until they discover a “portal” to an alternate dimension that uses light and sound to create an overwhelming immersive kaleidoscope of themed art and design. Basically, Meow Wolf’s exhibitions are part interactive museum, part theme park, and entirely a trip.
There’s a story told by some of these elements if you care to pick up on the threads, and Meow Wolf often uses environmental storytelling similar to video games and theme parks. In the past you haven’t really needed to pay close attention to that to enjoy these installations. The feeling of being transported to and immersed in an unreal place, and the use of multimedia art to create that, trumped any story. That might be changing, though; the Times reports that the L.A. location will be the first to have a story with “a firm beginning, middle, and end,” so it sounds like narrative might be more prominent this time. We’ll find out when Meow Wolf L.A. makes its big screen debut later this year.
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