Meow Wolf, identified for its story worlds and immersive multimedia artwork, has partnered with Niantic Spatial to discover multimedia artwork with augmented actuality.
They’re engaged on a proof of idea to convey these worlds past the partitions of bodily exhibitions and into the world of AR.
Niantic Spatial is a geospatial AI firm remodeling how individuals and machines perceive and work together with the bodily world. Collectively, the 2 firms are exploring how location-based AR—powered by Niantic’s Visible Positioning System (VPS)—might unlock new methods for audiences to have interaction with Meow Wolf’s Universe in on a regular basis environments.
Niantic Spatial relies on tech constructed for video games like Ingress and Pokemon Go, however Niantic Spatial bought off its video games like Pokemon Go to Scopely for $3.5 billion whereas protecting Ingress and its geospatial know-how. The deal lately closed.
The Niantic Spatial partnership launches with a closed beta activation later this yr at Meow Wolf’s Convergence Station in Denver. This preliminary section will check methods to attach real-world discovery with in-exhibition storytelling. If profitable, the collaboration might evolve right into a broader multiplayer platform that invitations customers to discover artwork, uncover storylines, clear up spatial challenges, and contribute to a shared universe past conventional exhibition partitions.
“This partnership with Niantic Spatial can open portals to a completely new layer of creativeness,” mentioned Vince Kadlubek, Meow Wolf chief imaginative and prescient officer, in a press release. “The world turns into a canvas for artistic expression—a scavenger hunt for bodily and digital artwork.”
“Meow Wolf’s narrative universe is not like anything—layered, nonlinear, and emotionally resonant,” mentioned Thomas Gewecke, COO and president at Niantic Spatial, in a press release. “It’s an ideal match for geospatial AR, the place your environment develop into a part of the story.”
Whereas nonetheless in growth, the objective is to prototype an expertise the place individuals can interact with Meow Wolf content material throughout metropolis streets, parks, and public areas—unlocking portals, discovering monumental artwork, and diving into layers of hidden lore. Inside Meow Wolf exhibitions, those self same interactions might carry over, providing deeper story development and entry to unique content material.
Attainable options underneath exploration embody:
AR Portals Wherever – Enter the Meow Wolf Universe from sidewalks, parks, or neighborhoods and reveal a layer of digital artwork experiences round each nook.
Quests & Present Moments – Full scavenger hunts, clear up puzzles, and construct standing to unlock unique in-exhibition content material and experiences.
Neighborhood Worldbuilding – Co-create the Meow Wolf Universe by contributing artwork, characters, storylines, and quests for others to find.
The collaboration can be formally unveiled throughout Niantic Spatial Chief Expertise Officer Brian McClendon’s keynote at Augmented World Expo (AWE) on June 11. Following the keynote, attendees can cease by the Niantic Spatial lounge for an early take a look at what’s in growth.
Meow Wolf creates extraordinary, mind-bending experiences that transport hundreds of thousands of adventurers of all ages into breathtaking realms of creativeness and marvel. Meow Wolf is dedicated to partaking curious seekers by means of the magic of discovery and play. It collaborates with tons of of visionary artists who infuse creativity into each Meow Wolf expertise.
The journey started with the THEA Award-winning Home Of Everlasting Return in Santa Fe (2016), a thriller home with hidden passages and mesmerizing artwork reveals. In Las Vegas, Omega Mart (2021) introduced a surreal grocery retailer expertise. Denver’s Convergence Station (2021) appeared as a maximalist architectural marvel linking 4 alien worlds. Meow Wolf unveiled Webby Award-winning The Actual Unreal (2023) within the Dallas-Fort Value metroplex. Meow Wolf’s fifth and latest location Radio Tave, a neighborhood radio station that spans dimensions, opened on Halloween of 2024 in Houston.
Meow Wolf’s subsequent exhibition opens in Los Angeles in 2026 adopted by its seventh location in New York Metropolis. As an authorized B-Company, Meow Wolf leads in themed leisure, innovating and celebrating human creativeness. All are invited to hitch a journey that defies conference, blurring the strains between actuality and fantasy.
