A new immersive and interactive experience featuring colorful art installations from local creators in 15 maze-like rooms has popped up at the Tucson Mall.
World of Wonders opened on the west side of the mall earlier this month. It uses creativity and technology, including laser lights and LED screens, to provide entertainment that is socially distanced, according to one of its owners and operators, Ramiro Bojorquez.
Bojorquez and his partners are also behind El Toro Flicks Carpool Cinemas, a drive-in movie experience that launched during the COVID-19 pandemic and operates in two locations locally, one downtown and the other in Oro Valley.
Before the pandemic, Bojorquez and his team were in event management, providing equipment and logistical support to large scale concerts and other major productions.
“We weren’t producing events, so we were trying to come up with concepts that could be socially distanced like our drive-ins,” Bojorquez said. “We decided to make this art experience and put our talents to use. It’s a sensory overload.”
Bojorquez said it can take up to 40 minutes to get through World of Wonders, which previously housed a New York & Company clothing store.
Isabella Briant, right, looks at a photo with her friend Sierra Termain that was taken while inside the glow garden at World of Wonders in the Tucson Mall.
On a recent Thursday, Rebecca Bronstein, 27, a zookeeper at Reid Park Zoo, was wandering through World of Wonders on her day off. Her favorite room was its bioluminescent nature scene.
“There are lots of selfie opportunities and interactive exhibits,” Bronstein said. “Art is important. It exposes people to new things.”
World of Wonders launched on Thursday, April 8, and will be open for at least the next six to eight months, Bojorquez said. They plan to add and change the installations through the duration.
“There’s not a dull moment in your experience,” Bojorquez said. “You really get to see things you’ve never seen before up close and personal. You land in another world.”
Bojorquez said it took a team of eight people about two months to make World of Wonders a reality.
“It’s a locally based experience,” Bojorquez said. “We’re not a corporation. We got local artists and we’re all local people that created this.”
World of Wonders is located at the Tucson Mall, 4500 N. Oracle Road, on the lower level of the west end of the building
It’s open 3-7 p.m. Thursdays; 4-8 p.m. Fridays; 1-8 p.m. Saturdays; and 2-6 p.m. Sundays.
General admission is $16 with VIP tickets available. Visit facebook.com/ seewowaz for more information.
Chandler Lang gives his friend Lauren Linder a piggyback ride inside the disco room at World of Wonders, a new interactive arts experience.
Sierra Termain, left, takes a photo of her friend Isabella Briant, inside an illusion tunnel at World of Wonders in the Tucson Mall, 4500 N. Oracle Rd., in Tucson, Ariz., April 15, 2021.
Sierra Termain, left, takes a photo of her friend Isabella Briant, inside the space station tunnel at World of Wonders in the Tucson Mall, 4500 N. Oracle Rd., in Tucson, Ariz., April 15, 2021.
A family walks past a large screen placed at the entrance of World of Wonders in the Tucson Mall, 4500 N. Oracle Rd., in Tucson, Ariz., April 15, 2021. World of Wonders, opened April 8th, is a new inactive art and entertainment installation where customers can take selfies, play with lasers and experience art created by local artists.
