{"id":224754,"date":"2026-01-09T09:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/224754\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T09:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T09:20:16","slug":"meow-wolfs-next-exhibition-is-set-in-a-surreal-l-a-movie-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/224754\/","title":{"rendered":"Meow Wolf’s next exhibition is set in a surreal L.A. movie theater"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meow Wolf\u2019s headed to the movies. The immersive art collective known for such large-scale installations as Las Vegas\u2019 Omega Mart and Santa Fe\u2019s House of Eternal Return has opened the curtains on its next major project, which is scheduled to open in Los Angeles later this year. Unsurprisingly, the new location will take its inspiration from Hollywood and use a movie theater as its launchpad, as revealed in a photo-filled behind-the-scenes look<\/a> published in the Los Angeles Times today.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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 \u201canimated, sentient candy\u201d at the concession stand, and a number of short films that parody different movie genres. After traversing the portal into the unknown they\u2019ll explore an \u201cintergalactic roadside attraction\u201d that includes a diner (hopefully one as intricate and entertaining as the Cowboix Hevvven dive bar at their Houston location Radio Tave). It\u2019ll also feature something described as a \u201creverse escape room\u201d\u2014a hidden chamber that guests will have to follow clues to find.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve never been to a Meow Wolf exhibition before, they start in a familiar location\u2014a grocery store, a house, the lobby of a radio station\u2014that, from the outside, appears normal. Look closer and you\u2019ll 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 \u201cportal\u201d to an alternate dimension that uses light and sound to create an overwhelming immersive kaleidoscope of themed art and design. Basically, Meow Wolf\u2019s exhibitions are part interactive museum, part theme park, and entirely a trip.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s 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\u2019t 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 \u201ca firm beginning, middle, and end,\u201d so it sounds like narrative might be more prominent this time. We\u2019ll find out when Meow Wolf L.A. makes its big screen debut later this year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meow Wolf\u2019s headed to the movies. The immersive art collective known for such large-scale installations as Las Vegas\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-224754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-artsdesign","12":"tag-design","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-new-zealand","15":"tag-newzealand","16":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}