Meow Wolf Art Exhibit in Santa Fe, NM

I just returned from a quick weekend in Santa Fe with my cousin and am now back in the 100+ degree heat of Texas. Boo-hoo. Our main reason for visiting Santa Fe this weekend was to check out the Meow Wolf art exhibit, which is definitely one of the weirdest art shows in the U.S. So, what is Meow Wolf?

1B4C057A-922A-45AC-A346-EBDC42B2D6A4 — Me and my cousin in Meow Wolf. They suggested we buy these glasses for $1 each to “enhance” the lights. I would say that you really don’t need them.

0B31491D-14E2-4F23-8C69-83FD4EDC96AC — Strange neon forest with fish

9B315F40-6763-4C80-A7AE-B0CFAD8E3046 — Giant rabbit

Meow Wolf was formed in 2008 by a group of artists located in Santa Fe who would rent out local spaces for pop up art shows and collections. It created its first permanent art installation in 2016 with funding from George R.R. Martin, the creator of Game of Thrones. This permanent exhibit is located in an old big box store and it’s a walk through immersive art show. And it is very weird.

9AE02FBC-5160-40AB-8A44-BAB63C954F0B — In the treehouse complex

CCAB8F2C-7F06-406E-B590-7ADB239C6306 — Musical dinosaur bones

08834CD4-9C4E-42D5-9E41-DDF92305F296 — Me inside a giant neon rabbit

It starts off with what looks like a private home that you enter and walk through the various rooms such as the living room, kitchen, laundry room, upstairs bedrooms, bathroom, etc.. In most of the rooms, there are secret entrances and exits that act as “portals” to take you to other dimensions or spaces, including a space ship, psychedelic tree houses, a musical dinosaur skeleton, etc… It’s basically a series of interconnected rooms that take you from one “dimension” to another and each one is more bizarre than the first.

9FFA3AB2-8E56-4387-8E4A-E0E1BE77A1AA — My cousin entering one of the “portals” through the fridge

You have to wonder through each room to find these entrances and exits, which may exist inside the washing machine, the fridge, the fireplace, etc…

B686B59A-AF91-4949-B9FB-308AB1292E7D — Strange furry worm in one of the portals

697CEE0F-F94A-4EDA-820A-3DFDBA862DC9 — We called this the Beetlejuice room

7BF4BA12-502A-430D-95A2-7A3D26FA2E16 — One of the portals was a Japanese street scene

Many of these rooms feature interactive exhibits that you have to touch or manipulate for the full experience. One of our favorite rooms was the laser harp that played music as you touched the individual laser “strands” that projected from the ceiling.

167740A3-F4E2-4721-BE8A-2B2B450C874B — Laser harp!

E92D1245-2FEF-44FA-ABBC-308A3F8CC6C2 — Playing the laser harp

It’s very much a family friendly venue and some kids were going beserk inside the complex so I do suggest going early on a weekday because it can get crowded and with some of the small spaces, you could feel claustrophobic.

099E0841-29E6-4D55-8FF3-AD64F903B1CA — In one of the immersive sound and light rooms – Meow Wolf had several rooms where you sat down and were bathed in strange lights and sounds for different effects or to evoke certain feelings

D7524967-B0A5-44D8-9397-79917D467956 — My cousin in another weird room – we called this one the “furry” room

Meow Wolf is located about a 10 minutes from downtown historic Santa Fe and I strongly suggest going online and buying your tickets in advance as there is usually a line. They have tons of parking but we ubered it there because we didn’t feel like driving. We walked right in with zero wait because we bought advance tickets and there was a line on a weekday. It’s $25 per person for adults and there is also a small cafe in the complex for food and drinks. I would say that it takes 2 to 3 hours to go through the entire thing depending on how much time you spend in the various interactive exhibits. We were there just a little over 2 hours before we got sensory fatigue and called it a day but we got through all the various rooms. It’s definitely a “trippy” experience!