To describe Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return in a single word is impossible. It’s bigger than “massive,” even more detailed than “intricate” or “complex,” and more wondrous than “incredible” would suggest. It’s so hard to sum up, in fact, that we were tongue tied after the opening gala of the Santa Fe art collective’s new installation. Adam broke the stunned silence with his own playful account of the evening:

I stood on the front lawn of an elegant Victorian house, under an oddly starless night sky. The two-story dwelling was aglow, and shadowy figures flitted in and out of view in the upstairs windows. The doormat read “Beyond Here There Be Dragons,” and judging by the roar coming from inside, there was no reason to believe otherwise. A few steps into the living room, two children dashed past me and dove headfirst into the fireplace. They slipped through the void, their footsteps echoing as though they’d entered a vast cavern. I crawled inside to discover luminescent stalactites and stalagmites surrounding a hulking dinosaur skeleton. This was no ordinary house.

Images by Meow Wolf, Golda Blaise, City of Santa Fe and Homer Sparks. 

If you’re already a bit disoriented, don’t worry—the New York Times was gobsmacked, too. We’ve been working with Meow Wolf for months on a House of Eternal Return project, and we still haven’t fully grasped the immensity of their multiverse. Suffice to say that they recruited an army of artists, writers and technologists to create an immersive science fiction story in an abandoned building on Siler Road. That’s all you really need to know before setting foot inside the collaborative art piece.

Watch the video above for a glimpse behind-the-scenes, and look below for footage from the grand opening gala. It’s just a small taste of what’s in store when you enter the House of Eternal Return. We are so grateful to these artists for constantly inspiring our team. Learn more about the art complex here.