When rumors of Area15’s emergence at an off-Strip location began to spread through Downtown Las Vegas’ thriving arts community, expectations and optimism ran high. It would be an immersive destination south of the Arts District, a psychedelic Smithsonian a few blocks west of Las Vegas Boulevard. It would entice both international tourists and Vegas cultural aficionados, especially with Santa Fe arts and entertainment entity Meow Wolf as an anchor tenant. And it would raise the bar for what is possible in the realms of art for a city always ready to get behind the next forward move.
Area15 exceeded those expectations. Meow Wolf's Omega Mart uses a supermarket as a subterfuge, complete with shelves of cereal boxes for sale and a soup-can tower endcap, where the frozen food section provides an entrance to a real-life Narnia. Spatial themes are explored in both Museum Fiasco and Wink World: Portals into the Infinite, the latter designed by Blue Man Group co-founder Chris Wink. Gustav Klimt and Vincent Van Gogh are resident artists in an immersion hall, Lost Spirits Distillery offers a tasting wonderland, and The Beast by Todd English provides worldly repasts for patrons who peruse Area15’s virtual, visual and invariably fantastical offerings.
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