Omega Mart is an

interactive art Interactive art is a form of art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose. Some interactive art installations achieve this by letting the observer walk through, over or around them; others ask the artist ...

installation created by American arts company

Meow Wolf Meow Wolf is an American arts and entertainment company that creates large-scale interactive and immersive art installations. Founded in 2008, its flagship attraction, ''House of Eternal Return'' in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a facility, which ...

and located in the Area15 complex in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Those entering the installation explore a supermarket, from which they can access various other areas and uncover a narrative. It features contributions from over 300 artists and designers. Omega Mart is an example of an

Alternate Reality Game An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by inten ...

. The overarching plot and lore of the Omega Mart Universe is still being solved using various clues (both online and clues present in the physical store). Omega Mart features custom-made products available for purchase, such as Mammoth Chunks, Organic Moth Milk, Nut Free Salted Peanuts, Gender Fluid, and Plausible Deniability, one of the three brands of laundry detergent. Piñatas of the

Seven Deadly Sins The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Although they are not directly mentioned in the Bible, there are parallels with the seven things ...

, designed by artist Justin Favela, are also available for purchase. The installation also features a secret bar, Datamosh, which serves eight specialty cocktails.

History

The concept for Omega Mart first originated in 2009, when artists first created a DIY pop-up grocery store exhibit which, according to the '' Las Vegas Review-Journal'', was essentially "little more than cinder-block shelves with bottles of colored water". It was attempted again in 2012, as Meow Wolf's Chimera educational division worked with approximately one thousand students in Santa Fe, New Mexico's public schools to fill a mock grocery store with handmade fake products. Both original installations were temporary, with the second one opening on July 8, 2012, and closing September 20 of that year. In January 2018, Meow Wolf announced they would launch their second permanent attraction (the first being Santa Fe's House of Eternal Return) in

, which would be an anchor tenant of retail and entertainment complex Area15. Omega Mart was originally planned to launch in 2020, but its launch was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In August 2020, Meow Wolf announced the project would focus on a supermarket called Omega Mart, and was expected to open in January 2021. In January 2021, the opening date of the installation was announced, and it opened on February 18, 2021. Various commercials for Omega Mart have been released, and have been noted for their unusualness and surrealism. A commercial for its opening, which featured

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...

's face

deepfake Deepfakes (a portmanteau of " deep learning" and "fake") are synthetic media in which a person in an existing image or video is replaced with someone else's likeness. While the act of creating fake content is not new, deepfakes leverage powerfu ...

d onto another person's body, was described by Shelby Stewart of the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'' as giving Texans "an idea of what a grocery store ad on LSD might be like". Various later commercials were described by Reid McCarter of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' as having a "weird '90s" aesthetic, and by Rob Beschizza, writing for ''

Boing Boing ''Boing Boing'' is a website, first established as a zine in 1988, later becoming a group blog. Common topics and themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney, and left-wing politics. It twic ...

'', as perfect examples of a certain "darkly humorous, haunted cosmic consumer horror".

References

External links

* {{Official website, www.omegamart.com Interactive art 2020s establishments in Nevada Tourist attractions in Las Vegas