6 immersive experiences that bend reality
Take a journey into the fantastic
In an immersive experience, the boundaries blur — once you enter this themed space, your senses get overtaken and you are no longer a witness but a participant. Lose yourself in art, games, food and other pleasures at these six innovative endeavors.
Activate
Groups of two to five tackle as many games as they want at Activate
Integrating physical and digital gaming, Activate lets you choose your own adventure. Start by selecting an interactive room, then pick one of the room's games and a difficulty level. Stay in one room and play the same game on repeat, try every space and every game, or go back and forth — it is up to you. Each game is no more than three minutes long and calls for different actions, from jumping to climbing to problem-solving. Activate has more than 40 locations in the United States and Canada, with spots opening soon in the United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates.
Arte Museum
Vibrant Southwestern scenery lights up the screens at Arte Museum Las Vegas
Using projectors, massive screens, colorful lights and booming sound systems, the Arte Museum transports visitors to gardens, jungles and forests — real and imagined — around the world. The Arte Museum's overarching theme is "Eternal Nature," and digital waterfalls, virtual waves and aurora borealis projections can be found at its eight locations in Asia and the U.S. In Las Vegas, visitors in the live sketchbook room draw animals, scan them and then watch as they almost immediately come to life on the walls. "It's a lovely communal moment, and one that ignites the inner artist in each of us," the Los Angeles Times said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Artechouse
All of Artechouse's art is digitally made
Art and technology collide at Artechouse. There are three spaces — Houston, New York City and Washington, D.C. — and each has its own programing that changes with the seasons. One aspect across the locations is constant: All of the art is made digitally with cutting-edge tools. In D.C., "Isekai: Blooming Parallel Worlds," is an annual anime-inspired ode to cherry blossoms. "While it mostly offers intense audiovisual sensation and eye-popping backdrops for selfies, 'Isekai' does pack some educational content," The Washington Post said, like explaining the history of cherry blossoms in the Capitol.
Flyover
Flyover is a fun way to see the sights
Sit down, buckle up and get ready to soar over some of the world's most beautiful scenery. Flyover is an immersive attraction where riders sit in front of a gigantic spherical screen in seats that turn, dip and swoop, so it feels like being in flight. Special effects like wind, mist and scents intensify the experience. There are Flyovers in Las Vegas, Reykjavik, Vancouver and Chicago, the newest location. With shots of Lake Michigan, Wrigley Field, Tribune Tower and other area icons, the film is "dizzying and inspiring," the Chicago Tribune said, and enough to "restore one's faith in this city's beauty, resilience and fortitude."
The Murdér Express
Murdér Express is a roaring '20s murder mystery meets dining extravaganza
Billing itself as "where gastronomy meets entertainment," London's Murdér Express takes dinner theater to the extreme. It starts with guests boarding a train in the fictional Pedley Street Station and quickly escalates to someone getting murdered and the rest of the group needing to figure out whodunit. The food is "impressive," Secret London said, and the set design "super cool," with "commitment to detail" everywhere. Screens next to the tables showing country scenery make it feel like you really are heading somewhere, and the audience participation elements cause "side-splitting sputters of laughter."
Omega Mart
Omega Mart combines art with storytelling
This is anything but your typical grocery store. At Meow Wolf's mind-bending Omega Mart in Las Vegas, visitors first enter a mock market filled with absurdist products only found here, like bottles of Plausible Deniability laundry detergent (if an item is not bolted down, it is available for purchase). This leads to "not-so-hidden portals into the large-scale exhibitions beyond," the Los Angeles Times said, which are "wildly colorful" and "all-enveloping." Different narratives are told along the way, "allowing guests to place themselves in a mystical story" that keeps them guessing.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Political cartoons for October 25Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include hospital bill trauma, Independence Day, and more
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
Ukraine: Donald Trump pivots againIn the Spotlight US president apparently warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Vladimir Putin’s terms or face destruction during fractious face-to-face
-
The 5 best TV shows about the mobThe Week Recommends From the show that launched TV’s golden age to a Batman spin-off, viewers can’t get enough of these magnificent mobsters
-
Roofman: a ‘stranger than fiction’ taleThe Week Recommends Channing Tatum walks ‘effortlessly’ between comedy and tragedy
-
Dry skin, begone! 8 products to keep your skin supple while traveling.The Week Recommends Say goodbye to dry and hello to hydration
-
Rachel Ruysch: Nature Into ArtFeature Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through Dec. 7
-
5 of the best kid-friendly scary moviesThe Week Recommends Hardcore horror is for grown-ups only, but light scares can be startling fun for the whole family
-
The Peninsula: London’s first billion-pound hotelThe Week Recommends As the capital’s super-luxury hotel scene continues to expand, the respected brand is still setting the standard
-
7 of the best narco TV series of all timeThe Week Recommends From Colombia to the California suburbs, every drug kingpin has a familiar and tragic trajectory
-
From Da Vinci to a golden toilet: a history of museum heistsIn the Spotlight Following the ‘spectacular’ events at the Louvre, museums are ‘increasingly being targeted by criminal gangs’
