Burning Man Without the Dust

Denver CO and Oklahoma City OK

It's that time of year when folks are returning from Burning Man and posting photos of the amazing art that was out on the playa. From what I've seen so far, 2022 seems to have been a little light on the art. Maybe with a two-year hiatus people just need to get back in their groove to make the magic happen again. Maybe lingering worries of Covid meant some art didn't happen; it is expensive and time-consuming to make large scale art and who wants to put in all the effort and have the event yanked last minute. Maybe people who were there just didn't get out as much to see and photograph the art because by all accounts it was crazy dusty this year and brutally hot. Whatever the reason, as the playa saying goes, "next year was better anyway."

I did have tickets for Burning Man this year and actually contemplated going for a while, but when the plans for this trip started to gel, I knew I wasn't going to do both. I think I made the right choice. I got to see and do some amazing things on this month-long trip, including some Burning Man quality, mind-bending art in Denver and Oklahoma City. I am thrilled that Denitta, my Burning Man best gal, was along for both of those adventures. I can't imagine a better wingman. 

Meow Wolf, Convergence Station, in Denver was very otherworldly, much like Burning Man itself but air-conditioned! This permanent installation of 60,000 square feet of immersive, interactive art opened in September 2021. It is the third Meow Wolf art experience, with the original, House of Eternal Return, in Sante Fe, and a second, Omega Mart, in Las Vegas. 

There is a storyline to Convergence Station and viewing it can be done somewhat like a live video game by collecting Easter eggs and solving puzzles with the use of a QPass card and interactions with character-costumed staff members. I imagine that would be pretty fun for gamers, but we opted to just take in the surreal art and participate in the interactive art pieces, which was more than enough simulation. I think our chosen option also allowed for more enjoyment of the art itself. 

We were in the exhibit for over three hours and are pretty sure that we covered at least 90% of it, although with all of the back-entrances and secret passages it is hard to tell what you don't know that you missed. Needless to say, we were both exhilarated and exhausted by the time we finished. 

It is really hard to explain what all we saw and experienced, because it was so surreal but hopefully the photos I took can give you some idea or at least inspire you to go and experience it for yourself someday. We did have a few favorites. I loved the street scene type areas that were like being in some futuristic science fiction movie. One amazing space was this cavernous city which we originally spotted from above on the top floor. By the time we worked our way down to the first floor, it took us a bit of hunting to locate it. The interactive exhibits were super cool, especially the touch screen where you could make graphics and sounds with just your fingertips. We also loved finding the occasional "quiet spaces" which were nice to get away from all the stimulation for a bit. I even loved that in the exit hall -- which does in fact dump you out into the gift shop -- there was a lovely dress made from QPass cards on a mannequin. Someone must have seen my mattress tag dress that first year at Burning Man!  

The second immersive, interactive art exhibit we visited was the Factory Obscura, Mix-Tape, in Oklahoma City, a local artist collaboration. We joked that Mix-Tape was Meow Wolf light, and while it's true that it wasn't as intense as Meow Wolf, it did have its own unique charm and some super fun interactive aspects. 

The concept supposedly pays homage to the 1980s custom of making mixed music tapes for friends and paramours, and the emotions that those tapes elicited. Our favorite room was the teen girl's room, which had a fun karaoke feature where lyrics appeared on the mirror and you sang into an electric hairbrush curler. The room was covered in decoupage, and the desk and nightstand drawers were filled with teen magazines and various other classic teen 80s memorabilia. There was a lip-shaped telephone, and opening the jewelry box revealed a lighted heart that seemed to go on into eternity. We also loved the alleyway with its Trash Pandas band sign and trashcans that had fun things inside; a hallway made of books; a giant spinning spiral that changed colors; and a room filled with clouds and fake fur, and rainbows created with colored lights moving through thousands of clear plastic cups. Even the gift shop gifted art with a hanging pod chair covered on the outside with pieces of nature and a surprise scene when you sat in it and looked up.

All that crazy art and there was no need to detail the car to remove the dust when we were done! 

If you came to this first through the blog, know there are more photos on the related Facebook post   

Google Album for these photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/hT8Yxu71rWJDwHxp8