Immersive Art Review: Meow Wolf's Omega Mart (Las Vegas)
Meow Wolf's Omega Mart is a compelling third entry to their "transdimensional" immersive art antics. Fine-tuning some of the most compelling pieces from their other exhibits, Omega Mart shows a more mature approach to their space that sometimes makes it more amazing, but other times left me disappointed.
Where Omega Mart seems to shine above and beyond Meow Wolf's other spaces is the story. While each of the Meow Wolf exhibitions I have been to have had compelling stories that somehow connect to the space, this one felt dangerous, exciting, and I am dying to know what happens because I didn't do the complete quest, just pieced together most of it. I liked the idea of a cosmic supermarket straddling two parallel worlds, one exploited by the other and serving as a resource point for raw materials as well as a dump point for runoff. It's a bit on the nose in its anti-corporate colonialism, but the family drama and intrigues that ensue along the storyline make things very compelling.
Omega Mart's use of technology was significantly better than House of Eternal Return or Convergence Station. There were multiple literal chatbots you could interact with. The music-making machines were excellent, although the laser harp wasn't quite as good as the one in Santa Fe. There was a lot of interactive pieces, something that seemed missing at times from Convergence Station. Another excellent thing about Omega Mart were the products in the store…many of them were hilarious, well-thought out, and satirical. It did seem somewhat gauche, however, that one could actually buy half of them. Blurring that line is an interesting concept borrowed from video games…the gift shop is part of the exhibit/game and the items for sale are as well…however, the prices are understandably high, and as far as I could tell none of the items enhanced the experience inside. To get me to buy in, you would have to incorporate elements of a life game, like having in game currency and tasks that earn you in-game credits (but still have a free-to-play option).
The most disappointing thing about Omega Mart was its size. While the story clearly calls for 5 distinct zones: the valley/village of 7 Monolith, the Factory/The Source, the Omega Mart Superstore, the offices above the store, and the DART research labs, the locations are all so close geographically that they don't seem to have their own distinct art styles and feel. The atmospheric beauty of the Convergence Station, particularly in the Alien worlds but pretty much everywhere, seemed to be lacking. While some of this could have been chalked up to the "corporate" theme, and there were many great workplace humor posters and gags, embracing a Pop Art or Art Deco vibe or even an exaggerated "this is the US in the 2000s" would have been interesting. It only took me about 30 minutes to explore the spatial element of Omega Mart, and most of the rooms were not compelling or beautiful enough to linger in. Those are two of my favorite things about Meow Wolf: 1)exploring the space and getting lost in a playground for adults, and 2)enjoying it as an surrealist art museum…so Omega Mart is my least favorite Meow Wolf so far (Grapevine, don't disappoint me). Omega Mart should have been constructed on a larger scale (like in an old shut down KMart or Super Wal-Mart) and with more attention to the quality of the spaces to feel like a real "Omega" Mart. I also felt there was a little less whimsy and mystery, both in the layout, and the design. While I understand that having 7 portals between the Omega Mart and the back section made sense for traffic and accessibility, it left me feeling like there wasn't much to explore…none of the passages lead you anywhere surprising once you had made your way to the other side once.However, size isn't everything, as OKC's Factory Obscura manages to be easier to get lost in, despite being about a quarter of the size of Omega Mart.
I would like to see the founders of Meow Wolf embrace AI and incorporate some elements that we're seeing in TeamLabs or Arte Museum, with projected spaces, rooms that interact more with you and to stimuli (Arte's room where you draw animals, TeamLabs Fukuoka's Pokemon Go-like room) , or rooms that change over time with different colors and vibes, without losing what makes it great. Of course, I would also like to see a Meow Wolf where the quest is more Escape Room like, and seeing everything there is to see (physically) requires solving puzzles.
Conceptually, Omega Mart is a masterpiece of a live, station-based, video game quest. This is the future of entertainment. Its interactive music stations are amazing, and the story is quite good. I did however, spend a lot of time waiting to check out an individual computer multiple times. Unfortunately, the conceit of visiting a real person's desk and looking for clues, while amazing story wise, means waiting when you're in the space with 200 other people. The fact that it costs more than the other Meow Wolf spaces while it's smaller only makes sense because it's in Las Vegas. To sum up, it makes great strides in exploring and fine-tuning some aspects of Meow Wolf's interactive medium, but it's missing some of the vibe, artistic chops, and design elements that make the House of Eternal Return and Convergence Station two of the coolest places to visit in the multiverse. Despite this, it's still one of the most interesting pieces of immersive art on the planet, and I don't think there's anything I would have rather done in Vegas.
