Two days into December, a hive of activity buzzes beneath the giant Coke bottle and anthropomorphic M&Ms that mark the site of Showcase Mall. The first level of the multilevel complex across the Strip from New York-New York resort is being transformed into Arcadia Earth, nearly 17,000 square feet of immersive installations inspired by environmentalism and ecology. It’s art-as-attraction, or attraction-as-art, joining off-Strip Instagrammable experiences Area15 and Seven Magic Mountains. Arcadia Earth distinguishes itself by inviting visitors to become “in harmony with nature” for 45 minutes without having to leave the Strip.
It’s a new option for Las Vegas but has a precedent in Lower Manhattan, where industrial designer Valentino Vettori debuted the first Arcadia Earth three years ago. The word “arcadia” itself originates from a bucolic, mountainous area in Greece, and denotes pastoral surroundings, which the native of Verona, Italy, expands upon to focus on what is possible in the here and now when it comes to caring for the Earth.
“Utopia is something unreachable,” says Vettori, while giving a tour of the site. “Arcadia is something actually reachable—(being) in harmony with nature.”
After having a life-changing realization several years ago about what kind of legacy he wanted to leave behind, Vettori redirected his restless visions for immersive department store spaces toward educating the public about the environment. He enlisted a squad of artists to transform a Broadway address and collaborated on creating a menagerie of environments that educate visitors as they promenade from room to room.
Vettori says the Las Vegas version of Arcadia Earth is five times the experience of its predecessor. Guests enter what appears to be an ice cave and discover the texturized surface is made from thousands of discarded plastic bags. Reams of recovered fishnets form rustic stalactites and a swing that hangs from the ceiling of one room, while walls breathe in another. A tunnel serves as an aquarium simulation, with a resident animated humpback whale that swims by and makes eye contact.
A virtual reality room will be ready by the Dec. 27 opening, but it’s the rooms with “augmented reality” installations where most enlightenment takes place. Guests can install apps allowing them to access information via QR codes that inform about the amount of plastic that end up in the ocean, the harm nets cause to marine life, or how little sunblock it takes to damage a coral reef.
The installations were created by artists and are treated as such, with a security detail on hand to make sure visitors don’t immerse themselves too far into the environments. There is a shop at the end of the tour where guests can buy books or environmentally friendly bathroom and beauty products, but what Vettori really wants guests to take away as they exit Arcadia Earth and reenter the land of big Coke bottles, merry M&Ms and roller coasters riding around a replicated Manhattan skyline is inspiration that leads to action.
“Go back into the world and do something better about it,” he says.
3785 Las Vegas Blvd. S. Suite 102, arcadia.earth or 866.633.0195
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