Inside Grapevine Mills sit five purple and white pyramid structures under the banner “Lærnü.” It’s a strange sight that makes several passersby pause.
It’s Meow Wolf Grapevine’s first installation, a preview of what’s to come when the entire site opens in July.
The aesthetic can only be described as a mashup of "Black Mirror" and "Stranger Things’" Starcourt Mall in an intergalactic dimension.
“This is our MLM creative wellness experience,” said Francesca Searer, a creative producer with Meow Wolf. “Through this, we're trying to get you into a more relaxed state to express your more creative self.”
MLM, or multilevel marketing, has often been a guise for businesses that are pyramid schemes, a reference that seems to be woven into the installation with its geometric obsession with pyramids.
The four outer pyramid structures house different audio and visual experiences. Three of the structures encase purple lounge chairs where visitors can lie down. Leaning back, visitors are enveloped in a “sound bath” while surrounded by iridescent reflections of themselves along the walls that are lined with LED lights.
It feels like the setting of a therapy session in outer space with your alien psychiatrist.
The audio content is a gentle, beautiful sound, Searer said. “It’s a very meditative experience, calming.”
The fourth outer structure, which looks like a mini psychedelic home, is an open space designed to be wheelchair accessible and welcoming to children who can play inside.
The reflective surfaces throughout the installation make it clear that there’s a main character in this strange, multidimensional world: you. Visitors are asked to see and consider multiple versions of themselves, refracted, enlarged, miniature and amorphous.
“We're all about reflections and reflectivity and looking back into yourselves in multiple ways,” Searer said.
That theme plays out on the four sides of the installation’s central pyramid. On one side, viewers can lean into a concave “portal” made up of an unknown material that looks like dozens of shattered pieces of glass. On another, you can look into a screen that shows a spinning, fractal version of your reflection.
Another side features work from three local sculptors who will have installations in the final Meow Wolf exhibition. The pyramid-shaped case holds Dan Lam’s miniature drippy sculptures, Morgan Grasham’s furry taxidermy-inspired creature named Gretchen, and Yana Payusova’s three sculptures that blend painting and ceramics. The display also includes two pamphlets designed by artist and social media influencer Aiden Arata that reflect the creative wellness theme.
The last side of the central pyramid features a miniature claw machine that holds shiny blue, green, purple and silver eggs with a sign that says “PEEEEENCH!” Visitors can put in a quarter and try their hand at grabbing an elusive egg.
Each egg holds a fortune and a custom-designed sticker by an artist who will be featured in the official exhibition. Some also hold free tickets to the official exhibition opening in July.
“So there's over 100 different fortunes that are possible to attain to learn more about yourselves if you win one of the magical eggs,” said Will Heron, local artist and Meow Wolf artist liaison.
Literally and figuratively, the Meow Wolf installation has many Easter eggs for visitors to discover. Much of the installation’s meaning is shrouded in secrecy, even the name of Meow Wolf’s fictional wellness brand “Laernü.”
“We want people to read into it a lot more, different ways of looking at it: backwards, forwards, up ways, down ways, multiple ways,” Searer said.
There is not a single way to interpret the installation and it seems that’s how Meow Wolf likes it.
As North Texans wait for the full exhibition to open in July, they can visit the new preview installation and ponder what it means to “Discover a nü you.”
Meow Wolf Grapevine’s immersive art experience “The Real Unreal” is opening July 14 at Grapevine Mills mall.
Arts Access is an arts journalism collaboration powered by The Dallas Morning News and KERA.
This community-funded journalism initiative is funded by the Better Together Fund, Carol & Don Glendenning, City of Dallas OAC, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Eugene McDermott Foundation, James & Gayle Halperin Foundation, Jennifer & Peter Altabef and The Meadows Foundation. The News and KERA retain full editorial control of Arts Access’ journalism.
