Meow Wolf’s New DFW Set up, “The Actual Unreal,” Is Right here to Break Your Mind

Rumors of Meow Wolf getting into DFW started a number of years in the past, and instantly followers debated the place it might find yourself. An unused constructing on the sting of downtown Dallas? An outdated warehouse outdoors of Fort Value? Good guesses, however no. Meow Wolf’s latest location is tucked inside a former Mattress Tub and Past at Grapevine Mills Mall, which no one had on their bingo card. An apparent improve over the earlier tenant, the model’s fourth everlasting exhibit opened July 14 with a theme dubbed “The Actual Unreal.” Right here’s what it’s essential know.

What Is Meow Wolf?

Meow Wolf is an artwork collective that creates immersive installations. The group was based in 2008 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and bought its begin with short-term reveals earlier than launching its first large-scale everlasting exhibition in 2016, dubbed Home of Everlasting Return. Positioned in a former bowling alley (and backed by creator/skilled procrastinator George R. R. Martin), the set up invited guests right into a surreal home with secret portals, alternate realities and a mysterious storyline in regards to the residence’s inhabitants.

Meow Wolf opened a second everlasting location in Las Vegas in 2021 referred to as Omega Mart, which is a really bizarre and kooky grocery store. Later that yr, they expanded into Denver with Convergence Station, a multiversal transit hub that hyperlinks Earth with alien worlds. The exhibitions differ considerably from place to put, however in line with the group’s interactive ethos, the artwork isn’t secured behind glass or fronted by velvet ropes. Installations are supposed to be touched and explored.

What’s Occurring at The Actual Unreal?

The Actual Unreal is centered round a suburban household and a tragic thriller, and also you enter this courageous new world by means of the entrance door of a seemingly regular two-story residence. To create the house, Meow Wolf introduced collectively 150 artists and fabricators, together with 38 from Texas, who constructed the artwork installations inside. Take a stroll by means of the exhibit, and also you’ll be absorbed right into a wild world of storytelling, know-how and immersive artwork inside 30-plus distinctive rooms. 

As you discover, you’ll unravel the story, which was conceived by creator LaShawn Wanak. It follows a lacking 10-year-old boy and a household that has unknowingly unlocked portals to a special existence. It’s your job to examine your environment and work out what occurred by way of a collection of clues that you just’ll collect as you go deeper into the house.

You too can simply wander round and hang around — it’s not like there’s a take a look at afterwards. However interacting together with your surroundings is enjoyable (trace: open the fridge door and poke your head into the washer), and also you’ll be rewarded to your efforts. One minute you’re in a normal-looking suburban lounge, retro kitchen or in entrance of a brick fire, and the subsequent you’re in a psychedelic Technicolor universe that we are able to solely assume was impressed by an artist’s acid flashback. 

“When members step into The Actual Unreal, they begin a cosmic odyssey the place surprises await round each nook, and every discovery sparks its personal story,” says Dale Sheehan, Meow Wolf’s senior vice chairman and government artistic director. “Each ingredient within the exhibition weaves collectively a tapestry of characters, tales and worlds.”

What Else Is There to Do?

It’s unlikely you’ll get bored right here, however there are nonetheless a number of different points of interest, together with a restaurant, retail retailer and reside occasion venue to maintain your consideration. The cafe is stocked with merchandise from native purveyors, together with Celestial Beerworks, JuiceLand, JudyPie, Soften Ice Lotions and Noble Coyote Espresso Roasters. After spending a pair hours inside The Actual Unreal and fixing mysteries like some sort of cosmic detective, you possibly can have a chilly beer and a hen pot pie as you collect your ideas.