More
M
We need places that make us feel like everything will be okay. Sometimes they’re escapist dreamscapes, other times they’re calming sanctuary spaces.
Fractalife inside Omega Mart. Photo by Kate Russell.
Whether it’s because we are, as a society, enmeshed via social media or every day, there is an alarming piece of news warning us to be afraid for our lives, bodies, health, fellow humans, neighbors, etc., we are reveling in a general sense of unease. We are the first people in history to receive this much information. I’m not sourcing any anthropological study; I just know this to be true. I don’t think anyone on this Earth has ever witnessed this much on a global scale - all at once - to this degree ever.
So, we yearn and need places that make us feel like everything will be okay. Sometimes they’re escapist dreamscapes, other times they’re calming sanctuary spaces. Meow Wolf offers the entire spectrum. Let me tell you a little bit about my favorite places where I think hmm, everything will be okay!
Located in the cozy caves of Santa Fe’s House of Eternal Return, until I see you again’s environment diverts your consciousness away from the comings and goings of the outside world, and towards the physical universe right in front of you. It sucks you into the present reality. It’s full of light, video projections, and visual illusions, giving you the freedom to truly get lost in this familiar yet strange land of calming stimulation. It’s the perfect way to forget about the chaos on the outside, at least for a little bit - and even if you don’t forget completely, you can reckon with a quiet peace that still exists within this oftentimes brutal world.
Now, Omega Mart in and of itself might make you feel a little bit too seen in its hyperrealist satirical approach to everyday consumerism, but Juke Temple, located in the Factory, is an installation that consists of light art accompanied by sound design. It is a great moment to be encompassed by something so larger than life, crafted with an artist’s hands, which, really, is everything at Meow Wolf.
Located in Seventh Monolith Village, Fractalife offers something that feels beyond human. It is an immersive light and sound installation made out of wire netting, reminiscent of a large, floating, living organism that pulsates with a rhythm of ever-changing colored lights. It’s almost like the forest of our galaxy, this playground of light and color that connects all cosmos. It definitely makes you feel tiny in the grand scheme of it all, which can help when drowning in the horrors.
There is nothing more calming than a library, at least for me! A reminder that we’re surrounded by an oasis of knowledge and depth? That makes me feel slightly less worried for the future of education. In this world, The Library is the hub of knowledge for the ancient and current Ossuarians. It contains ancient tomes, as well as more current books and a computer that holds the history of the Converged Worlds. It is a space that spills over in wisdom, acknowledging the past before us and making sense of today.
Walkaway above C Street
C Street is just one of those places - it’s a bustling space full of art, wonder, and life. It is the perfect reminder that the world continues, even in the wake of unrelenting atrocity. Sometimes that feels like a contentious idea, but C Street gives it some color and pizazz. The street is home to unconventional vehicles, doorways, and secret passages leading to collaborating artist's spaces, intertwining ideas of what other people’s inner worlds look like.
As an Eastern European who grew up with Baba Yaga lore ingrained in my childhood upbringing, the Baba Yaga Treehouse is a reclamation of something used to scare kids with something “ugly” and redefining it as something actually quite magical & beautiful. There’s a metaphor there, but really, it’s also a mesmerizing wooden fixture that feels hidden away and safe despite all the spooky Slavic mythology.
The Crystal Cloud Cave, located in Neon Kingdom, exists as a liminal space of an ethereal sky that seems unreachable. Made up of clouds and crystals, there is a reminder that whatever we dream of can actually be made into art. It is the perfect place to lose yourself into thought & discovery, while feeling held by the clouds themselves (if clouds could actually hold us).
In the Theta Theater, there is the Laughing River, an eclectic hallway of art fusing into one mesmerizing experience. There is color, imagination, and mythology painted onto the walls around you, consuming you into another world for the time being. It is a truly special way to engage your senses.
It’s a little ironic for a break room to be somewhere you might feel okay, but I swear this is unlike any other break room you’ve ever been in. There’s something weirdly nostalgic about this one, almost like you’re on the set of your favorite early 00s TV show. There are games, a TV playing an enigmatic film and the general quiet mundane of everyday life, which can be the very thing that reminds one that everything will be okay. It’s the in-between moments, when we’re sitting with people we love, listening to a song we love, witnessing magic in the form of art or an exciting social interaction. Meow Wolf will definitely remind you of these split seconds of joy and wonder, maybe even revitalize your love for this chaotic life + world.
.jpg)