For those who visited the ever-trippy immersive artscape Meow Wolf and thought, I want this was a spa … you had been in all probability alone in that. Congratulations. Nonetheless, Meow Wolf cofounder Corvas Brinkerhoff delivers.
Brinkerhoff is leaving the rising artwork large to launch Submersive in 2026, a spa in Austin that follows lots of the identical immersive artwork and lighting ethos in a spa setting. The enterprise calls itself the “world’s first neuroscience-enabled spa,” pointing to collaboration with neuroscientists and different thought leaders to make the mixture work.
Amongst them are notion knowledgeable Dr. Beau Lotto and neuroaesthetics researcher and author Susan Magsamen, plus others extra faraway from the neuroscience area, like an economics theorist and a hospitality knowledgeable. Brinkerhoff himself was Meow Wolf’s CTO and SVP of Expertise, bringing among the technological experience.
Returning to our opening hypothetical, though most Meow Wolf guests aren’t wishing for a gown and a face peel, it isn’t a stretch to name the expertise transformative. Though every dramatically and theatrically altered warehouse housing a Meow Wolf location is completely different, the overarching theme is discovery.
Guests can poke by the seeming mundanities (suburban homes in Santa Fe and Grapevine, Texas; a grocery retailer in Las Vegas) and surrealist installations alike to start to uncover a narrative about how we expertise one another and the world. This artwork experiment stands out from its extra selfie-inspired imitators not simply in its measurement however in its ideological depth.
If wellness ventures are looking for comparable methods to ease and even jolt guests out of their each day grind utilizing sensory instruments — a scorching stone therapeutic massage, a sensory-deprivation tank — is it actually that completely different?
Making a magical area to wash in does sound enjoyable.Rendering by Lua Brice courtesy of Submersive
“At Submersive, we consider there’s a possibility to transcend leisure, to create environments that transport us into elevated states like awe, marvel, euphoria, inspiration, connection, and even transcendence,” mentioned Brinkerhoff in a press launch.
Among the many extra conventional wellness components included within the proposed 25,000-square-foot area (which both does not exist or is not introduced but) are saunas, steam rooms, swimming pools, and chilly plunges, in keeping with the discharge. Presumably extra so than at even essentially the most futuristic spas, these areas will embrace artistic lighting and sound together with video and interactive expertise to information the expertise. (That is sight, listening to, and contact, if you happen to’re counting. Style and scent are TBD.)
If this all sounds enjoyable, that is all nicely and good — nevertheless it’s not likely the purpose. Submersive advisor B. Joseph Pine wrote a complete e-book titled The Expertise Economic system, which fits hand-in-hand with what he calls the “transformation economic system.” Principally, individuals do not simply wish to be entertained and find yourself again at sq. one when it is over; They need one thing that fosters lasting change.
“If Meow Wolf is a shining instance of the expertise economic system, we predict Submersive will likely be that of the transformation economic system,” mentioned Brinkerhoff. “Submersive can provide new therapies throughout the context of immersive experiences.”
In a world of burgeoning psychedelic therapies — which bought their very own monitor at South by Southwest in 2024 — why not? If Austinites present sufficient curiosity on this mission as soon as it launches, Submersive plans to broaden around the globe.
