DENVER — Meow Wolf's Denver "Convergence Station" opens Friday, and here's what you need to know before going to this immersive, permanent art exhibition.
This is the third permanent art exhibition for New Mexico-based Meow Wolf, which also has exhibitions in Santa Fe, N.M., and Las Vegas. Meow Wolf is made up of more than 200 artists in a variety of mediums who create bold and immersive experiences.
Meow Wolf Denver is in a 90,000-square-foot building with 60,000 square feet of exhibition space, tucked between the viaducts of Interstate 25 and Colfax Avenue. The address is 1338 1st St.
Pre-timed tickets are on sale. Tickets are $45 for general admission, $40 for children, seniors and military, and $35 for Colorado residents. Meow Wolf said they sold 35,000 tickets in the first 24 hours that they were available for purchase.
What is "Convergence Station"?
The theme "Convergence Station" refers to the science fiction-ish storyline that draws together 80 different exhibits.
Here's the story: A cosmic event merged four worlds from different universes, causing the residents of those worlds to lose their memories, and a Quantum Department of Transportation allows visitors to move among them. There's an ice world, a lush alien forest, a cityscape and a catacombs.
For those who want to get deeper into the worldbuilding, there's a narrative to unravel about the mysterious disappearance of four women and the cause of the convergence.
Screens placed throughout the exhibition allow visitors to uncover more about the storyline and the mystery as they move through the four worlds.
Local artists
Meow Wolf Denver opened to artist proposals in October 2018 and got more than 1,000 submissions. That resulted in 80 projects created by 130 artists, many of them from Colorado. That includes artists, writers, musicians, performers, designers and sculptors.
The artists come from diverse backgrounds including an even split between men and women, 20% who identify as LGBTQ+, and 38% who are people of color, according to Meow Wolf.
To mention a few:
Mongolian collaborators Eriko Tsogo, Jennifer Tsogo, Tsogo Mijid and Batochir Batkhisig created a work called "Mongovoo Temple," that features hundreds of masks.
Scott Hilderbrandt has been a professional artist for seven years and works out of a studio in Englewood, and his piece "You Are Here" surrounds you in a mosaic of dioramas and salvaged pieces of communications equipment.
Married artists Brandan Styles and Ellie Rusinova created a fortune-teller alien completely out of insulation foam. Styles said their piece is the culmination of 15 years of work as professional artists.
What will you see?
There are four levels with 60,000 square feet of exhibition space.
The exhibits range from pieces behind glass, to immersive hallways and small rooms, to giant spaces with a castle, or an alien rainforest with multiple levels of walkways.
The exhibits merge into each other as the visitors walks from room to room.
While a couple of hours is long enough to see everything, it takes longer to study and spend time with the exhibits (which you'll likely want to do), and to interact with the Convergence Station storyline.
Meow Wolf's Convergence Station
What else is there to know?
Convergence Station is appropriate for all ages.
There's a café and a gift shop, both accessible from the lobby on the first floor.
While almost all of the exhibits are permanent, there's a gallery in the C Street section where the art pieces will be on ongoing rotation. A movie theater in the same section will host a rotation of films.
A space on the first floor called Perplexiplex will host music and private events.
It took four years to complete construction and installation for Meow Wolf Denver, and the exhibition employs about 240 people.
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