We’re kicking off the Dent 2020 conference with a party at Meow Wolf, Santa Fe’s world-changing arts collective making a big dent in the worlds of the arts, startups, and plenty in between.
Our Dent 2020 theme is reinvention – and what better way than to experience how the interactive art of Meow Wolf while you get to know your fellow attendees (and enjoy some excellent music). A few more reasons why you won’t want to miss this private party:
First, Dent celebrates the boundary-pushers, the innovators, and the weirdos. Meow Wolf has revolutionized the relationship between art and commerce, inaugurated the experience economy, and (let’s not forget) made some really weird, really cool art. Let’s get inspired by them – and see how these reinventions might apply to our work.
Second, Meow Wolf is constantly sold out! The lines are long and it’s hard to get a ticket. We’ve bought the place out for an exclusive evening so you get to experience it without the crowds and hassle.
Finally, we know that sometimes the best things about Dent aren’t onstage. They’re at 10 PM, or on the (wine) bus, or in the line for lunch. There’s no better place to make new friends than while playing a laser harp, sitting on a sofa embedded in the roots of a technicolor forest tree, or putting your heads in a tube that forces you to look at another person instead of your phone (to foster human connection). Like going to (a really trippy, meticulously crafted) summer camp, you’ll make deep friends fast at Meow Wolf + Dent 2020.
If you’re not already signed up to attend Dent 2020 in Santa Fe, March 22-25, 2020, what are you waiting for? Apply to attend here.
Denters are quirky. Denters are curious. Denters are going to be excited about a collective dedicated to outsider creatives, a cave made out of sparkles, and a start-up leading the “experience economy.”
Meow Wolf began in 2008 as a collective of starving artists who wanted to serve as an alternative to the Santa Fe art establishment. The average age in Santa Fe leans older, so there weren’t a lot of young hipsters throwing dance parties in warehouses. And while there’s a long history of art in Santa Fe (most notably, Georgia O’Keefe’s house and museum), it hasn’t recently been considered a hub for experimental work.
While we might think of Brooklyn or Berlin as the breeding grounds for really out there art, Meow Wolf serves as one of the most notable creative studios. They began by literally dumpster-diving: transforming whatever they could find into installations, initially in an abandoned hair salon. They were a scrappy, somewhat anarchic collective.
Meow Wolf devoted themselves to “immersive” art—or works that not only create interaction with patrons, but surround them and engulf them. Immersive work breaks down the traditional boundaries between artist and audience: the theatrical “fourth wall” or the pesky “no touching” rules at traditional art museums.
Come 2015, Santa Fe resident and Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin teamed up with the Meow Wolf collective, buying an abandoned bowling alley to host the company’s flagship permanent exhibition, The House of Eternal Return. You’ll walk through the back of a refrigerator, look for clues in a washing machine, and walk through a neon forest while freely roaming a 20,000 square foot space searching for clues in a non-linear science-fiction narrative.
House of Eternal Return became a smash hit. In the first year, it tripled its projected revenue, with patrons waiting in sometimes three-hour lines on weekends. Buoyed by the success of “The House” The company has attracted investor funding and now has nine-figure valuation.
With permanent projects opened or soon-to-be-opened in Denver, DC, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, Meow Wolf is beginning to sweep the nation. In Santa Fe, you’ll see where it all began.
Meow Wolf has made a Dent in the universe. And we want you to join us there. Apply for Dent 2020 here.
