1758 – A Mind-Blowing Art Installation Experience with Jeff Lund

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0:58well with us right now is jeff lund jeff you are the general manager of meow wolf's omega mart in las vegas my wife and i just got back from our vegas vacation and i'm so grateful to have a quick chat with you right now because i wanted to share not just with our audience about what the Meow Wolf Omega Mart experience was like, but I really just wanted to thank you for just an amazing experience. And when I say experience, it's not just the installation because we've been to Meow Wolf in Denver, which is just incredible. And we'll try to, by the way, for someone who's like, what does he keep saying?

1:38Meow Wolf Omega Mart. What does that even mean? We'll talk about what this is exactly, but my suspicion is you're probably going to want to watch some videos, go to the website, that sort of thing. So you can get a feel for what it is that we're talking about, because the way I would describe it, Jeff, is that Meow Wolf is this experiential touch, feel, explorer. You know, there's mystery involved. There's this legend that's going on, and there's all this story that's going on behind the scenes. But, you know, really, I see this as just a beautiful way for anyone, including families, to go and experience art and define art any way you want.

2:14But not only is it just the installation itself, sorry, this is the world's longest question here. I promise, Jeff, I'm going to give you a minute. It's all good. But also, you know, I got to give props to the people that are involved. It's not only is it just the installation, but everybody's in character and it's just so cool. All right, Jeff, I've said my piece. I'd love to have your take on what Meow Wolf's Omega Mart is. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks, Josh, for having me on here. First of all, we're an immersive art exhibition. So we celebrate all sorts of art. And our mission here is to raise artists and art to make it accessible for, you know, eight year olds to 80 year olds.

3:01We just want you to come with an open mind and just explore the portals of possibilities that we offer. Meow Wolf has basically four right now exhibitions around the country. The first one started in Santa Fe. Omega Mart in Las Vegas was number two. Convergence Station in Denver is number three. And we just opened the Real Unreal in Grapevine, Texas. I specifically manage Omega Mart here. And each exhibition has a different story. So we're happy to share that story when you first arrive, if you're not familiar with the Meow Wolf product. But we also just say, hey, you can just come explore on your own.

3:43You don't have to do a deep dive into the story and you're going to see amazing art throughout the exhibition. A little sneak peek for someone who might not have been here so far is we welcome you into the Omega Mark grocery store. And once you get in there, you start to look at the products and a majority of those are for sale. So you can pick up, you know, some whale song deodorant or maybe some gender fluid soda. Yeah. So you start to explore these products and you soon realize like there's a little bit something off on this grocery store. And as you start to go deeper and deeper, oh, I've got to stop too.

4:21The tattooed chicken in the meat deli is our number one seller for any sort of housewarming, Thanksgiving meal, that sort of thing. So you got to make sure to check out the tattooed chicken. But you'll soon realize that there's a lot more to explore. And the story behind Walter Dramm and the Dramm Corporation, who owns that grocery store, what's really going on? So I don't want to give too much out. But once you arrive, we kind of share all that information. And then you soon find out that maybe one of the refrigerators to the soda cooler opens up and you can walk in through this portal into another whole universe and start to explore deeper and deeper into the story.

5:04You know, so when we were there, people sometimes ask, you know, is Vegas a place for kids? And I say, it's not really for kids, but you can bring kids, but you're going to want to be pretty deliberate on what you do. Omega Mart, like the kids that we saw there were just fascinated. They were giggling. They were having a great time, but there's something so exciting about, Hey, I'm in a, what appears to be a grocery store, but all of a sudden I can go places that I've never been able to go before. So there was so much, I would think glee is kind of what I observed and not just from the kids, but, and I'll tell you, if you like having really clever kind of fun things to post on social media.

5:47This is a social media. Hey, heaven here in terms of like things you can take pictures of and videos and just things that you can engage with and post on social, which we saw a lot of us with a lot of video. And by the way, to our friend that's listening, just hit up YouTube, but your website, Jeff, what's the Meow Wolf Omega Mart website? Because you could go to meowwolf.com, but I was just, I didn't know if there was a separate website just for Omega Mart. Oh, Yep. And that will give you an overview. You can purchase tickets there as well. Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. And there's a video on there.

6:23But yeah, you'll find videos online where people are starting to share a little bit of the story, what's going on. But it's pretty immersive. And here's one thing, Jeff, that I really liked about it is you could, in theory, go, in theory, and maybe find about 30 minutes worth of activity. But my suspicion is you're probably going to want to budget a couple of hours because once you start, and especially if you're going with, you got people in your party that want to explore, because there's some aspects of it are a little bit escape room-ish where it's like you're looking around and like, wait a minute, I'm seeing some clues that are kind of adding up and that's going to reveal information or a secret message or something like that.

7:03We saw some of that, but can you talk maybe a little bit about the time and how you might plan for a trip to Omega Mart. Absolutely. So the average consumer spends a good hour and a half to two hours. Now, if you're one that really wants to do a deep dive into the story, we've got kind of a gameplay called Boop, and you can purchase a little Boop card and you become an actual employee of the grocery store. So that's going to lead you through more of the experience. The fun thing too, we've got a lot of grocery store attendants working there. If you get lost or confused, you can always ask them for help.

7:41They won't give you specific answers to your questions, but they're going to lead you down the journey of like, have you been to the corporate office? Maybe you need to go into projected desert. You might find something in the mailbox at the Monolith Village. so there's a lot of people here that don't work here but work here because you never know what's real and not what's not real but yeah there'll be people to help you into that gameplay and again you know you can do it as a family or you can do it as an individual it's just up to you but your journey i would say allow at least 90 minutes just to get through we're 53 000 square feet you know know, two stories.

8:22So it's quite massive. So if you're coming here just for that FOMO, you know, video, which is great eye candy for all the social media platforms, you can get that very quick, but really to, you know, digest all the different rooms and exploration spaces, you can spend a good couple hours here. Yeah. Also, I should point out there's a secret speakeasy if you can find it. And so you can enjoy there. And I just want to mention this really quick. And this was a little confusing for me. So there's a larger installation called Area 15. That is the entire compound is, I guess what I'll call Area 15, included in Area 15.

9:04There's other things you could do, interactive things and restaurants. And it's a real kind of artsy, cool place to be. But one of the, I would say, you know, we were hanging out with Michael from Meow Wolf and he had mentioned, you know, it's kind of like Omega Mart is a Nordstrom's and Area 15 is kind of like the mall. Yep. So Area 15 is an entertainment complex. They've got activities both indoor and outdoor. So we are the anchor tenants. We occupy half the building on the West side. And yeah, so you have to come into Area 15. There's restaurants, there's axe throwing, those golf activities.

9:39And then we are part of that entire experience. And we're the first phase that has been built so far with future expansion plans. Well, it's really exciting. You know, I'm here in Orlando and there's rumors that Area 15, maybe Meow Wolf is coming. We're all, you know, kind of hoping, wishing, praying that that comes through because that would be delighted. And I can't wait. This is kind of the last thing I wanted to point out. in every Meow Wolf installation, there's a little bit of a commentary, I would say, on something, right? And in Vegas, I think you'll kind of pick up on what that commentary is kind of poking fun at maybe consumerism a little bit in a lighthearted way.

10:22And so I can't imagine what it's going to be when it's just down the road from Disney. Yeah. Yep. So I can't confirm or deny anything you're saying, but the, you know, the plans for Meow Wolf to grow in future cities is definitely on the books. So that's great. Where we pop up next. Jeff Lund, the website is omegamart.com right there. Get your tickets ahead of time. Yep. Any other suggestions for planning? Like if someone's planning on going to Vegas in a few months, anything else that you'd recommend they do right now? You know what? We're open seven days a week. We open at noon until midnight.

10:58So we've got lots of hours to come during the day. And on weekends, we're 10 a.m. till midnight. So we find that people who are coming to, you know, Taylor Swift or Katy Perry, this is a great opportunity to do something during the day before you go to your YouTube experience or, you know, whatever else you've got planned in town. So, yeah, just come with an open mind. And I hope that you'll find that we inspire your own creativity in making art in whatever, you know, medium or form that is from musician to painting to whatever. Like just bring a creative mind. Jeff Lund, general manager of Meow Wolf's Omega Mart in Las Vegas, Nevada.

11:39Jeff, thank you so much for the conversation. My pleasure. Thanks, Josh.

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