Full Review of the ARTE Museum Las Vegas
There’s an endless list of things to do in Las Vegas at night. You can gamble. You can dance the night away at a nightclub. You can dine at a world-class restaurant or see a spectacular show, my personal favorite way to spend time in Vegas. But the options during the day can feel more limited, especially if you’re looking for something a little more thrilling than sipping margaritas by the pool. Although hey, there’s nothing wrong with that.
That was one reason I was excited to visit the new Arte Museum in Las Vegas. It seemed like the perfect way to fill the quieter daytime hours before the Strip came alive again at night. We had also visited another digital art exhibit in Tokyo a few months earlier and fell in love, so we knew we liked this kind of experience already.
After reading tons of glowing reviews about ARTE Museum Las Vegas, we went in with pretty high expectations. Unfortunately, our experience didn't exactly match the hype. Read our full review below to find out why.
WHAT IS ARTE MUSEUM LAS VEGAS?
ARTE Museum Las Vegas is a digital art museum that uses large scale projections to create “immersive environments”.
It was created by Korean digital design company d’strict. They have also created exhibits in South Korea, China, Dubai, and New York City.
WHERE IS THE ARTE MUSEUM LAS VEGAS?
ARTE Museum Las Vegas is located right on the Las Vegas Strip. It’s located inside 63 Las Vegas, a shopping center at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue, right across from the Cosmopolitan Hotel.
OUR REVIEW
Candidly, Alex and I were not impressed with the ARTE Museum in Las Vegas. Now, admittedly, we’re in the minority. Somehow, it has an average rating of 4.7 stars across more than 8,000 reviews on Google. But, we have 5 compelling reasons we believe this is not worth your time and money.
The Exhibits Didn’t Capture Our Attention
We spent an average of 2 minutes at each exhibit. Maybe. 2 minutes is a rather generous estimate. Each exhibit was crammed into a small room or even just a corner of a room. The exhibits weren’t very dynamic so after a minute or two you were just watching the same thing over and over. It got old quickly, so we moved through each room pretty fast.
The Exhibits Felt Repetitive
Three of the more original exhibits at the ARTE Museum were Waterfall Infinite, Starry Beach, and Whale. Each had a water theme, where the movement of the water was meant to be the mesmerizing attraction. But, there was a lot of overlap between the three and they started to feel redundant.
The Main Attraction Fell Flat
I was most excited to see the Musée d'Orsay Collection room. Paris’s Musée d'Orsay is one of my favorite museums in the world and I was excited to hear that they have been collaborating with the ARTE Museum Las Vegas for the last three years to put this room together.
The concept behind the room was reimagining the works of two of the world’s most well-known artists, Monet and Van Gogh, using “light, sound, and color.” In reality, it was a series of projections of the artists’ most famous paintings in a giant room. Having seen the paintings in real life already, I found it to be pretty underwhelming.
There Was An Uncanny Resemblance to TeamLab Borderless
Does anyone else have deja vu? If you visited Tokyo’s TeamLab Borderless, many of the exhibits probably felt familiar. So many rooms in the ARTE Museum Las Vegas imitate the TeamLab Borderless exhibit, but the execution just isn’t as good.
Take this room of orbs as an example. Look familiar?
In both exhibits, the walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in mirrors, and the orbs would change color every few seconds. At TeamLab Borderless, the orbs were bright, sparkly balls that reminded me of Christmas ornaments. At ARTE Museum Las Vegas, they were flimsy paper lanterns crammed into a much smaller room.
Then, we have the sketch rooms. In Tokyo, an underwater scene is projected onto four giant walls. You color in an animal, scan the image, and watch your creation swim across the wall in front of you alongside everyone else’s creations. The creatures would even venture outside the bounds of the room and wander across the museum! I bumped into the shark I colored in another area of the museum hours after I drew it.
In Las Vegas, we have a jungle scene instead. But the process is the same. Color in an animal, scan the image, and watch your creation walk across the wall in front of you. In Vegas, though, the Sketch Jungle is crammed into a tiny corner.
I can go on and on detailing every uncanny coincidence between the two (the cafe with images projected onto coffee cups, the room with the flowers at the beginning, etc) but I think you get the point. (By the way, we didn’t bother with a drink at the cafe, but I read online that you’re only given 10 minutes to finish your drink before you’re ushered on.)
It Was Just Projections
With the exception of the Sketchbook Safari, the entire concept of the ARTE Museum was just watching a series of projections on the wall. After the third or fourth room, it becomes a little less exciting. Is this all there is to see?
IS IT WORTH IT?
There are so many places in Las Vegas that will dazzle you, take your breath away, blow your mind, or maybe even make you question what’s possible. The ARTE Museum is not one of them.
I kept comparing ARTE Museum to TeamLab Borderless, probably because many of the exhibits were exactly the same concept. And it’s not just that I had seen this before. It’s that ARTE's execution of the digital art concept wasn't nearly as impressive.
For example, TeamLab would cleverly use mirrors to make their exhibits feel immersive. The mirrors were positioned in ways that genuinely tricked your eyes into believing the exhibits went on forever. I even walked into the walls a couple times, convinced the exhibit continued on in the direction I was walking.
I never experienced that same sense of awe at the ARTE Museum. I was always very aware that I was standing in a small room staring at images projected onto the walls. This did not feel like an inventive concept I’ve never seen before. In fact, it was quite boring.
Putting that comparison aside, what the experience boils down to is a series of images projected onto a screen. The concepts were repetitive and the exhibits couldn’t grab your attention for more than a minute. It didn’t feel like the immersive experience that was promised on the website.
It’s a great place to take a few photos for Instagram, I guess. But the experience really fell flat for Alex and I. Not to mention, at $55 a ticket, that’s one expensive afternoon, especially since we spent less than 45 minutes inside the exhibit, and half that time we spent coloring our jungle creature in the Sketch room. Save your money or put that $55 towards another Vegas experience. You can thank me later!
FAQS
How long should we spend there?
The website recommends spending 60-90 minutes at the exhibit. We made it through in 45 minutes.
Were you rushed or ushered through the exhibit?
No, the tour is self-guided and you can move at your own pace. However, you can’t backtrack or revisit rooms you’ve already moved on from.
Was it crowded?
There were a lot of people, but it didn’t feel overly crowded. We went on a Friday afternoon though, so it’s likely more crowded on evenings and weekends.
Do I need to buy tickets in advance?
Their website recommends buying tickets in advance, however we purchased at the door. We actually got to skip a long line of people who already had tickets and walk right up to the front desk to purchase our tickets onsite. The prices are the same online and in person.
How much does it cost?
The price ranges a little depending on when you go. Weekday tickets cost $50. Weekend tickets cost $60. Add $5 to the ticket price if you want a drink at the ARTE Cafe. $10 discounts are offered for children, Nevada residents, veterans, senior citizens, and first responders.
When is ARTE Museum Las Vegas open?
ARTE Museum is open from 10am-10pm every day, with last admission at 9pm.
