Worth a road trip: Galleries close to Wichita offering immersive art experiences
Immersive art can take on many forms – a performance, a museum, one installation within a gallery, for example. At its core, the concept is presenting art in a way that allows visitors to do more than just look at the art. Immersive art engages all of the senses.
Here are several immersive experiences to check out:
St. Louis: City Museum, opened in 1997 by a classically trained sculptor, has been credited as inspiration for Meow Wolf and Factory Obscura creators in building creative, interactive spaces. Find caves, tunnels, slides and much more made of found and repurposed objects throughout the 10-story, 600,000-square-foot former shoe warehouse.
Various locations: Meow Wolf opened its first permanent installation, “The House of Eternal Return,” in Santa Fe, N.M., in 2016. The 20,000-square-foot space drew 500,000 visitors last year. The company now has three other permanent installations in various stages of development:
▪ Las Vegas: A 50,000-square-foot experience is scheduled to open soon west of the Strip; there’s no date but the company is still saying “early 2020.”
▪ Denver: A 90,000-square-foot complex west of downtown is scheduled to open in 2021.
▪ Washington, D.C.: A 75,000-square-foot installation is planned for 2022 in the capital’s northeast Fort Totten neighborhood.
▪ Tulsa: Ahha, originally the Arts & Humanities Council of Tulsa, uses the second floor of the Hardesty Center in the Tulsa Arts District for large-scale, semi-permanent, interactive art experiences. A new immersive environment titled “Imagine” is being installed and will open to the public in May 2020. In the lobby, they also have on display until May “King’s Mouth,” a giant head sculpture created by The Flaming Lips that you can crawl into and watch a light and music show.
Overland Park, Kan.: Wonder Wonder is a semi-permanent installation in Overland Park’s Oak Park Mall where local artists have created 16 unique rooms they consider part art exhibit, part photography studio. Wonder Wonder also has a location in Boulder, Colo.
Denver: In addition to its upcoming Meow Wolf site, Denver also is home to another Meow World collaboration: Kaleidoscape dark ride at Elitch Gardens Theme Park, an artist-driven “thrill ride for the mind.” The city also offers immersive performances through the Denver Center for the Performing Art’s Off-Center and Denver Immersive Opera.
San Antonio: Hopscotch is a new, permanent gallery to showcase technology-infused art installations near Travis Park Plaza in downtown San Antonio. Their website says the 18,000-square-foot space is expected to open “spring 2020.”
Chicago: In 2019, the wndr museum evolved from a pop-up to a permanent experiential museum that features an infinity mirror room by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. The city is also known for its theater companies staging productions that remove the barriers between audience and actors, from Birch House to Windy City Playhouse.