Hello, everyone!
It's my first time in this community. Usually, I post my artwork in other Hive communities. But last weekend, I did a new thing, and WEEKEND EXPERIENCES looks like a perfect place to share. So let's jump right in!
As the title implies, the place I visited is called Meow Wolf, The Real Unreal in Grapevine, Texas. There are only four of these MW (Meow Wolf) installations in existence, and as you can imagine, this newest location in Grapevine has been generating a lot of buzz leading up to its mid-July opening. Each location is a unique art immersion, so the experience it provides is truly one-of-a-kind.
My bestie and I planned this mini-adventure weeks ahead of time in June, and we were both excited to go, although we were unsure of what to expect. The billboards and ads were somewhat cryptic!
She and I met about 25 years ago in middle school art class, and all these years later, we both love making art as a hobby. We only meet up a few times a year, and when we do, we usually gravitate towards art-centric activities. 😍 So this visit was perfect for us.
The Real Unreal is inside Grapevine Mills Mall, which is an experience in itself because of how popular it is, especially on the weekends. It totally gives classic early 2000s shopping mall vibes. We went on Saturday afternoon, peak bustling activity time.
On entry, there is a brief intro from a staff member, basically explaining what to do if you become overhwelmed or need to leave, and so on. Then, enter through a nondescript black door into what I can only describe as a sensory overload tour through a collective dream sequence...Or maybe an acid trip? I'm not sure since I've never done anything like that 😅.
Stepping through the door leads to a stage set type of environment, the front lawn of a house at nighttime. From there, it only gets weirder and more curious. Seemingly endless things to see and take in.
The basis of the whole thing is there's a missing 10-year-old boy and all the different areas in the place point to clues of what happened to him.
Bestie, along with other visitors, said it was very reminiscent of the Stranger Things series (another thing I'm not personally familiar with 😶🌫️).
I'm very glad we went and that I got to experience this unique installment. There was that disconnected or untethered type of feeling that happens during a long trip away from home during parts of my time at MW. It really was like being in someone else's mind, and at times it felt jarring or uncomfortable. That must have been the immersive-ness kicking in.
I can only imagine the insane amount of artists' blood, sweat and tears that went into getting The Real Unreal ready for us plebs to enjoy. Every inch of the place is covered with decoration, which was impressive and pretty amazing, considering the scale of the whole exhibit.
One head scratcher is since it's a non-linear self-guided tour, the only way to know you've seen everything is to start realizing you're coming to the same area twice 🫠. To be frank, we left "early" because it just became too much! So, we never did figure out the mystery of what really happened to Jared, but I suspect, "✋️Aliens🤚."
Would I go again? Ehhhh, that's a definite "maybe", as it was truly a barrage of the senses. Visiting another one of MW's installations in the future would be fun, to have a comparison basis. If you find yourself in a MW city, I do recommend taking a few hours to wander through the experience.
Anywho, here's some of the sights from inside Meow Wolf, The Real Unreal:
This was just a sliver of what The Real Unreal has to offer. Again, if you get the chance to go, definitely take it to experience the immersion for yourself. Thank you all for reading! 🧡
All images captured by me, emanate-artworx, with Samsung S21 on 22 July 2023.
Strobing lights gave me migraines :D So I am very grateful I can check out your photo-feed:) Meow-Wolf :D Congrats on such long-term friendship, this things are rare:)
Love this ... thing!
That's reminds me my drawing from weeks ago :D There are this entity called 'collector', it was created for one of the games, that I cannot recall the name now. But look a lot alike that one. I was trying to draw it one day. I will try dig that out:)
The light effects were pretty wild. It was disorienting at times!
Yeah! We don't see each other that often, but when we do its always a good time 😌. We talked about opening some kind of art gallery in the future, after her kids are grown.
Yes, "thing" is the best way to describe that display. It was so bizarre! The third eye mannequin has a very archetypal vibe, that one was interesting. Glad it sparked a drawing memory for you : )
Thanks for stopping by!
It looks like music techno - club in early 2000' :D
That's some serious plans! Very interesting:) Where would that(gallery) be?
Haha! Yes, it definitely felt like being at a club in some areas, loud music, throngs of people, crazy lights and sounds 🫨😅.
About the gallery, we haven't made any solid plans yet since we both have a lot going right now (babies, family, work transitions, etc.) but probably Texas or Colorado : ). It's an exciting thought!
It is still something to look forward too:)
Nice. I was just talking about Stranger Things. I was really fascinated with fun fair spooky houses when I was a kid and would totally sell my soul to get inside something like this then. Looks like they're really into symbolism too. Interesting!
It totally had a fair/haunted house feeling in there! But cranked up to the max 🥴😆. It was a surreal and eye-opening experience. The whole thing was like walking through a maze of symbols, haha. You would probably enjoy visiting. : )
It is a good series. I watched S1 and S2! Very retro vibe. 😍
Mehhh probably me too!
A lot to see. So colorful! 😍
!PIZZA
I missed the boat on Stranger Things when it was new 😅, but of course it's still available streaming. It was so popular. Maybe one day I'll do it.
Haha, halfway (?) through, a voice in my head said, "what are you even doing here?". The spell was broken 😮💨😆. Still glad I went, tho. Some people say that type of place is the future of art.
Thanks,Jiji! 💖
Looks like a fun little adventure to do. So did anyone find out what happened to the boy?
The picture quality is superb here and I was wondering what kind of phone did you use to take these beautiful shots. I didn't expect that you own a s21 haha. That thing is expensive here 😝. Samsung is great with photo quality hehe.
It was definitely an adventure! You know, I'm not 100% on the Jared mystery. That place was freaking packed with visitors. In the house there were different "stations" that had audio/video clues about the story, but the lines to see them were long, so...😅 we skipped those parts. I think he ran away or was abducted by aliens in the desert, but not sure. Honestly that big question mark was the most annoying part of the whole thing! 😂 It was up to the viewer to figure it out.
Oh yeah, this phone was pricey. It took a few years to pay it off! But it's worth it : ) I actually resized all the pics to 60 percent of original so they would load faster, so it's good to know the quality is still acceptable. Thanks, Solumviz!! 🧡
Bummer! I thought someone figured it out haha. This was quite interesting
though but sometimes you need Sherlock Holmes to solve such mysteries haha.
Damn that's is an impressive camera then. I have to ask, Sammy is notorious for lagging after a year or so regardless of the chip inside. How is the performance on that thing after all these years?
Sherlock Holmes would have figured it out for sure 😆. So many clues...so few answers for the rest of us.
Honestly, it's one of the best devices I've ever had. No issues with lagging or anything else problematic. If that's the case with Samsung, maybe I just got lucky! I have another phone that's very bare bones, it's quite robust, also Samsung. 🤷♀️ 😁
I guess the s series phones are pretty good. But it's still too expensive for me haha.
Definitely a commitment at new prices 🤑💸. But since I use it more than anything other device, I'm satisfied with the purchase.
Keep creating and getting yourself out there, you'll reach you goals!
Yep, yep next target is a phone but I have to finish paying the tab's emi first 😂😭.
Interesting experience. Welcome to Week End Experiences Community.
Yes, it certainly was memorable. Thanks for the greeting! 🥂
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