eternal return

Since 2016, when the once-scrappy Meow Wolf art collective opened Santa Fe’s “House of Eternal Return,” the company has welcomed about 10 million visitors across its four venues.

But this year the funeral doom merchants unleashed their most ambitious venture to date with “Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate” — the first in a three-album series loosely based on the philosophical concept of eternal return, life on an infinite loop.

Whereas Santa Fe’s “House of Eternal Return” and Las Vegas’ “Omega Mart” were heavily sci-fi stories with occasional nods to climate change and corporate waste, “The Real Unreal’s” story tackles more existential themes of grief and heartbreak, looking to art for its ability to heal and bring communities together.

“The Real Unreal” continues a Meow Wolf penchant for abandoned buildings that started in 2017 with “House of Eternal Return,” which was famously constructed in a defunct bowling alley after a $3 million investment from Santa Fe local and “Game of Thrones” author George R.R.

Like “House of Eternal Return,” “The Real Unreal” first takes visitors into a suburban home, this one belonging to a blended family that has found itself living together in a time of crisis.