5 cool things you'll see at Meow Wolf L.A. (like a fish-shaped spaceship)

Meow Wolf likes to accidental that its upcoming Los Angeles accumulation is focused connected the creation of storytelling — wherefore it matters, what it means and however stories transform.

“This accumulation is astir the inevitability of change,” says originative manager Elizabeth Jarrett, “and however the stories that we archer ourselves and others person the quality to impact the mode we comprehend alteration and the mode we acquisition it.”

That besides means that Meow Wolf, known for its large-scale, explorable installations successful Las Vegas, Denver, Houston, the Dallas suburbs and its location basal of Santa Fe, N.M., volition treble down connected its experiments with different media. Throughout the Los Angeles show, guests volition brushwood mixes of unrecorded enactment and animation, shadiness boxes, games and adjacent a mini flight room, lone present guests person to interruption into alternatively than retired of a concealed room.

The Times spent 2 days successful Santa Fe precocious past twelvemonth to preview Meow Wolf’s Los Angeles exhibition, acceptable to instrumentality implicit portion of the Cinemark analyzable astatine Howard Hughes L.A. adjacent the extremity of this year. Here are 5 accelerated things to cognize astir the experience.

Lost and discarded movie theatre treats are presented successful a work-in-progress installation for Meow Wolf Los Angeles.

(Gabriela Campos / For The Times)

In Las Vegas, guests participate a trippy market store implicit with parodies of household items earlier uncovering their mode to the main accumulation space. In Santa Fe, it’s a location with otherworldly goings-on. And successful Los Angeles, attendees volition archetypal find themselves successful a movie theater.

Co-founder and enforcement vice president Sean Di Ianni says the squad is aiming for “sticky floor, popcorn vibes.” “It’s a ‘90s multiplex cinema, and we’re going to thin into that, to plan the abstraction to consciousness similar that epoch of multiplex cinema,” Di Ianni says.

Neon creation volition enactment portion of a partition successful a planned cafe astatine Meow Wolf Los Angeles.

(Gabriela Campos / For The Times)

As guests traverse the cinema astatine the commencement of the show, they volition brushwood a concession basal wherever candy has sprung to life. In fact, 1 of the archetypal creation pieces successful the abstraction volition beryllium a multicolored installation successful aquarium-like boxes of forgotten gummies and discarded pizza slices that look to person a psyche of their own.

There volition beryllium a cafe successful the theater, and the lounge itself volition beryllium filled with art. Large-scale neon sculptures — a bunny, a martini solid — volition grace the precocious walls. And down the barroom volition beryllium a projection partition with archetypal video designed to look decades old. “One of our inspirations was precise aboriginal experimental video art, worldly radical made with a Sandin Image Processor, worldly that was lone imaginable due to the fact that radical successful the ‘60s and ‘70s decided they were going to technologist circuits to marque ocular images,” says video decorator Sue Slagle.

Meow Wolf creator Chris Hilson is moving connected abstraction bikes for the Los Angeles exhibition.

(Gabriela Campos / For The Times)

All of Meow Wolf’s exhibitions person a sci-fi bent, and Los Angeles volition beryllium nary different, with galore a motion to films of subject fabrication and fantasy. One portion of the amusement volition location a brace of abstraction bikes. They volition beryllium rideable, situated successful beforehand of a elephantine surface to simulate movement. The motor volition rotation similar the innards of a kaleidoscope and embedded successful the motorcycle volition beryllium a tiny mini-game.

There volition beryllium 2 abstraction bikes, including 1 that’s ADA compliant. “The tires are beauteous complicated,” says abstraction motorcycle decorator Chris Hilson. “Why are they truthful complicated? We needed to enactment monitors successful there. We’re going to person monitors successful determination showing immoderate truly insane spatial imagery. It gives them a truly bold effect.”

An aboriginal exemplary of a planned spaceship for Meow Wolf Los Angeles.

(Todd Martens / Los Angeles Times)

A large portion of the accumulation abstraction volition location a spaceship. But it’s not conscionable immoderate spaceship. The alleged Dream Freighter is besides a surviving being.

“The Dream Freighter is simply a surviving time-, space-traversing vas that’s benignant of shaped similar a fish, but not a mean fish,” says Hilson.

The centerpiece country of the vessel volition location a elephantine interactive screen, successful which guests tin twist knobs and panels to skip crossed antithetic intergalactic worlds — oregon possibly they’re conscionable dreams. It isn’t rather clear. But the extremity is thing that feels some mechanical and biological.

“We’re going for a existent benignant of absorbing integrated entreaty to this,” says Hilson. “I’ve been calling it bio nouveau.”

Emmanuelle John is moving connected a mycelia ceiling for a meditative space.

(Gabriela Campos/For The Times)

Meow Wolf focuses connected maximalist, sensory overloaded art, but astatine slightest 1 cardinal abstraction successful Los Angeles volition beryllium dedicated to heavy contemplation. And mushrooms.

“We’re going to marque a sustainable room,” says Shakti Howeth, originative director. “It’s a decompression country wherever radical tin dip retired of the main anchor to person a quiescent meditative infinitesimal and recaliberate. It’s going to beryllium all-natural treatments with a mycelia ceiling.”

The fungal feeling volition widen to different parts of the accumulation arsenic well. Meow Wolf is besides moving connected a 30-foot gangly explorable “mushroom tower,” which volition person hidden interactions and concealed hideaways. The second volition service arsenic 1 of the spiritual tentpoles of the space. It was important, says Howeth, for the Los Angeles grounds to observe the organic.