Motto Trust First Focus Art habitats | Established 2009 Founded 2016 | |
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Founder(s) Vince Kadlubek, Emily Montoya, Benji Geary, Matt King, Megan Burns Mission To spread arts education in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Location Siler and Rufina neighborhood, Santa Fe, New Mexico, the United States of America | ||
A walk through meow wolf
Meow Wolf is an art collective in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. The organization was founded in 2008.
Contents
Exploring meow wolf
History
Meow Wolf was formed in February 2008 by "a group of young residents hoping to supply Santa Fe with an alternative arts and music venue". The group originally leased commercial spaces to hold gallery shows and music event, but switched to a decentralized model in 2010.
Art projects
Some of the more notable Santa Fe-based installations from the group include "Biome Neuro Norb" (2008) a Sci-Fi inspired installation, "Auto Wolf" (2009) an installation centered around the destruction and reuse of a donated car, "The Moon is to Live On", a multimedia theatrical play, "Geodecadent I" and "Geodecadent II" (both 2010) a series of installations based on geodesic domes, "The Due Return" (2011) an installation consisting of a 70-foot long ship with two levels, and filled with rooms and objects suggesting details of implied fictional inhabitant's lives.
In 2011, Meow Wolf formed CHIMERA, a program focused on arts-education. In 2012 Chimera worked with nearly a thousand Santa Fe students to create "Omega Mart", a collaborative art installation in the form of a fictitious grocery store stocked with hand-made fake goods. "Omega Mart" was deliberately placed away from Santa Fe's arts district to attract a more diverse audience. In 2013 Chimera began working with the Albuquerque Museum's classroom mentorship program for gifted students to create another installation named "Project Dreamscape".
Since 2011 Meow Wolf has built shows outside of Santa Fe, as well. "Glitteropolis" (2011), at the New Mexico State University Art Gallery, used 50 pounds of glitter for the installation. "Nucleotide" (2013) was a drippy pastel cave-like installation built by Meow Wolf artists in Chicago at the Thomas Robertello Gallery. The majority of "Nucleotide" was conceived and built in Chicago over a 3-month period by 18 members of the collective.
Art complex
In January 2015, author George R. R. Martin pledged $2.7 million to lease a vacant bowling alley to create a permanent facility for the group. This was supplemented by additional funding, including $50,000 from the city of Santa Fe and $100,000 from a crowd-funding campaign. The Meow Wolf art complex opened March 17, 2016. Its main exhibit is "The House of Eternal Return", and the facility includes a makerspace and a children's area.
Scope
Meow Wolf has also been involved in scheduling and promoting music shows at various Santa Fe venues.
In 2012 Meow Wolf formed a political action committee under the name WolfPAC with the intent to support young adult perspective in Santa Fe. The group circulated petitions for a city referendum in support of marijuana legalization, as well as related to music venues and Zozobra.