What to Know
- Meow Wolf, an art collective that began in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2008, creates step-inside realms full of mystery and magic
- "The House of Eternal Return" opened in Santa Fe in 2015; other Meow Wolf exhibitions followed in Las Vegas and Denver, plus two Texas locations, Grapevine and Houston
- A May 3 social media announcement revealed that the sixth exhibition will open in Los Angeles in 2026
A new portal is opening in Los Angeles in 2026, and shimmering on the other ethereal side?
Prepare for a fresh and fantastical exhibition from the creative spirits behind Meow Wolf, the world-famous purveyors of offbeat and elaborate immersive experiences.
Countless people passed through playful portals over the past decade, an inventive time that saw the esoteric and eye-popping rise of the immersive experience.
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Call it step-inside art, the exhibitions that people could become part of by opening a weird-looking door, sailing down a short slide into a neon-colored garden, or posing in an otherworldly room that looked as if it was plucked straight from a cartoon.
The immersive experience rose quickly once cameras were in almost every pocket, and social media gave users the chance to share their outlandish adventures in these strange spaces.
Standing tall at the top of this surreal summit? Meow Wolf, the highly acclaimed art collective that unveiled the eerie and evocative "The House of Eternal Return" in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2015.
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The highly visual "house," which was built inside a long-empty bowling alley with the backing of "Game of Thrones" author (and Santa Fe local) George R.R. Martin, gave visitors the chance to loop through unusual and ethereal realms at their own exploratory pace.
Joyfully jumping from one bizarre world to the next bizarre but totally different world can happen simply by passing through closets, a refrigerator, and the living room fireplace, with several tantalizing mysteries to solve along the way.
What the Los Angeles exhibition will bring, the team at Meow Wolf did not say in its May 3 announcement — after all, this is an enigmatic enterprise devoted to maintaining an air of merry mystery — so fans will have time to contemplate what the design and theme might be.
For every Meow Wolf exhibition — there are currently five destinations welcoming portal-seeking visitors in Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Denver, and Texas, which is home to two — boasts its own distinctive vibe.
Omega Mart in Las Vegas has a merchandise-centered merriment, a store environment devoted to the very oddest items, while multi-dimension travel is at the heart of Convergence Station in Denver.
The exact location of the upcoming Los Angeles exhibition was not revealed, so feel free to ponder if might alight in the Arts District, where other unrelated immersive experiences have popped up — The Museum of Ice Cream was an Arts District denizen over a half decade ago, while Madcap Motel delighted visitors just a few years back — or Echo Park, the home of Machine Project, a group that also plumbed the peculiar depths of step-inside fantasy.
Or perhaps the interstellar adventurers from Santa Fe will land somewhere else, a spot that is quite surprising, within the numerous folds of our vast megalopolis.
Which prompts us to consider this question: Will the newest Meow Wolf find inspiration in our huge and sprawling city, its biggest stop yet?
For more information, keep an eye on the Meow Wolf social updates, intergalactic adventurers.
Pictured: A space inside Omega Mart in Las Vegas
