KV2 at the Heart of Santa Fe’s Thriving Art Scene

After the creation of the Due Return a full-sized time travelling ship, a desire for a permanent installation became clear. Meow Wolf set its sights on Santa Fe’s bowling alley and found a patron in George R.R. Martin, best known for his bestselling book series that inspired HBO’s award winning Game of Thrones, who bought the building and renovated it for Meow Wolf. Martin gave the collective a ten year lease, allowing Meow Wolf to transform this derelict space into an otherworldly, interactive, and immersive exhibit space that guests regularly characterize as “mind-blowing”. Over 100 local artists transformed the space into “House of Eternal Return” - a labyrinth of interactive storytelling that has guests walking into a full-sized Victorian home and then through portals to alternate dimensions that guests access through a washing machine, a fridge or a fireplace (to name just a few). Also inside of House of Eternal Return, Meow Wolf has a venue where the system of choice is a KV2 Audio ES.

Max B.K, director of events at Meow Wolf, talked about his introduction to KV2, “I had heard a KV2 PA at the Communikey festival in Boulder in 2015 where Vance Galloway was the technical director and had thought about it a lot after hearing a Funktion-1 at the same festival the year before. A month after Meow Wolf opened we booked Nicolas Jaar to DJ hear and we knew our existing set up wasn't going to cut it. At that time Kori from Aesthesis reached out to us. Coincidentally, Vance was also the FOH for Nicolas Jaar's tour. After hearing Nico play on that PA and Vance serve as the engineer, I felt more than comfortable going for the ES. Those two nights were ridiculous.”

As the space is relatively small but was going to be hosting acts that required a powerful, dynamic system, local KV2 Rental house and Installer, Aesthesis Solutions knew that the ES1.0 with ES2.6 subwoofers was the solution. On Meow Wolf’s ES System, Max explains, “I'm thrilled by the range and clarity of the system. Its compactness is delightful as well. Artists and engineers come into the room and they're astounded by how good it is. We're producing their full range of sound. When we first set up the system, it was alarmingly precise. After time it's become warmer and more gratifying to listen to.”

In its first year open, Meow Wolf has hosted acts such as CocoRosie, Angel Olsen, Nicolas Jaar, Sage Francis, Deerhunter, Toro y Moi, Yeasayer, DJ Tennis, Nicola Cruz, of Montreal, Dan Deacon, Floating Points, HEALTH, Devendra Banhart, and Empress Of.

Max adds, “It's been a wonderful first year. Just like we love to create transformative experiences, we love artists who take us to other worlds. We look forward to many more shows and constantly improving the quality of the experience for showgoers and artists alike. Thanks a lot for making such awesome gear. I wish everything we had was KV2. Hopefully one day!”

KV2 Audio setup:

• 2x ES1.0
• 4x ES2.6

For More on Meow Wolf visit:

• https://meowwolf.com
• https://www.instagram.com/meow__wolf
• https://www.facebook.com/meowwolf.sf