Members of Meow Wolf, an arts and entertainment company that creates large-scale, immersive art installations, will be guest artists in the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts April 1-3.

Laika Young O’Brien, Meow Wolf lead experience designer, will give a public presentation at IGNITE from 12:30 to 1:50 p.m. April 1 in the Carson Center, located at 13th and Q St. The event is free and open to the public.

Young O’Brien is one of the most in-demand speakers in experience and immersive design. They will talk about the experience economy, new emerging media art forms and what the future holds for immersive design. As lead experience designer, they are responsible for crafting meaningful and transformative interactive experiences. Young O’Brien is also the co-founder of No Sleep Studio.

Young O’Brien will be joined by Max Neutra, Meow Wolf experience designer, to present a workshop April 2-3. The workshop is available by application only for emerging media arts and theatre majors at the university.

The workshop will focus on the fundamentals of experience design and extended theatre, through hands-on rapid prototyping sessions, technical and creative skill building, and more. The workshop will culminate in a private performance on April 3.

Meow Wolf is a key player in shaping the burgeoning “experience economy,” creating transformative experiences for the public. They have been featured in Fast Company, the BBC, the New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Economist, as well as top presenters at the interactive media festival, South By Southwest. They are the recipients of a THEA award (recognizing outstanding Themed Entertainment and Experience Design Projects Worldwide), and their impact is so significant that a documentary of their origin story was produced in 2018.

Beginning in 2008 as an informal DIY collective of Santa Fe artists, these collaborative roots lay the foundation for Meow Wolf’s distinctive style of immersive, maximalist environments that encourage participation. In 2016, they established a permanent installation in Sante Fe, House of Eternal Return, and have since been commissioned to produce permanent immersive experiences in Las Vegas at Area 51 (Omega Mart) and in Denver, where in September 2021 they launched Convergence Station.

For more information on the Meow Wolf residency, visit the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts website.