Metartworld — Attraction in Melbourne

This place feels as though it was designed to photograph and share on Instagram/TikTok to build hype for more people to go. Certainly not worth the $40 (MAYBE half that, and that may still be pushing it). I feel that a lot of people who enjoyed it that much either have a very disposable income or are gaslighting themselves because they also can’t believe they spent that much.

The metal sculptures on the first floor are cool, yes, but lack any information about each piece or any piece for that matter. As a result, you just end up wandering around the warehouse which is severely lacking in ambience. The quiet music playing from the corner is at odds with the experience. Overall the downstairs had a weird vibe to it, especially given I was one of very few people down there at the time.

Going up the stairs to the Starry Sky exhibition you are greeted with a box of cut up pool noodles to take with you on your journey… this is proposed as ‘crowd control’, if there’s no noodles I guess the individual determines that they are not to enter. The experience in the exhibition is somewhat immersive but certainly comes out better on camera. Photos/videos can hide the electronics that aren’t working quite right and all the paper signs reminding you not to touch or pull on the electronics, don’t lean on the fence etc. The exhibit does photograph well - I visited during a very quiet time which was helpful to ensure there weren’t a million people blocking the way.

Some of the rooms were better than others but each had a sort of ‘cheapness’ to it that was a little disappointing. The most enjoyable and best photographed were the hanging light beads and ‘floating’ lamps (although about 3 were not coordinated with the others, being a different colours at different times or straight up flickering). The worst was the projector room (which I straight up just walked straight through) and the last room with the plastic dangly strands - not dark enough, plastic getting caught in wrist watch, touching along everyone’s face and harbouring an untold amount of germs I’m sure.

The 2 hour suggested time must be when you are competing with hoards of people. It legitimately took we 20 minutes to get through the entire space, upstairs and down from the gorilla head at the front to the end of the starry sky exhibition. (Verified by time stamps on photos and videos)

The toilet facilities are what you would expect of a warehouse out in the middle of an industrial estate - a bit icky and poorly maintained.

Suggested to my friends (locals) that they not go and just enjoy the photos I took instead.

My suggestion to the establishment: SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the price so people aren’t left with a bad taste in their mouth about the whole thing. Price should reflect quality. Create a better ambience in the downstairs area (group ‘like’ sculptures together and you could play audio from the movie/show they feature in). Light the sculptures better. Provide information about each one that would make them more interesting ie. weight, how long it took to make, who made it etc. You could make it more cheesy, at least then it would be fun. Lose the pool noodles. If you’re serious about crowd control, which by the sounds of it, you should be, then have someone manning the entrance to the upstairs exhibit. Review and maintain the electronic components in the exhibit Replace the cheap looking printed signs with something that looks a bit more professional or matches the set Maintain the bathroom facilities to a higher standard, check and replace paper towels more regularly etc. The long winded, ChatGPT generated responses to reviews are disingenuous. I understand that if English isn’t your first language than they may be required as a jumping off point but have someone review and cut down the response so it doesn’t come across as ‘pandering’ when you speak of improving things and then months later, the same complaint...

I very much enjoyed my experience at Metartworld, the staff were very accommodating at allowing me to change my booking despite being inside the cancellation terms. I appreciate them for that. The kids had a great time, but, and I hate that there is a but.. think of it more of an opportunity to improve! The metal art is stunning, but not presented in its best light, its got a sense of being taken out of its container and left on the pallet kind of vibe. Some pieces completely hide like an afterthought (poor Edward scissorhands) stuffed against the wall behind the sword thrones. There's poor lighting under the gantry so the gorgeous spike, the evil gremlin was almost missed not to mention Predator! I would love to see some directional lighting used to accentuate the pieces. The overall ambience of the place is lacking, no or very quiet music playing, warehouse stark lighting and it's bloody cold in there! Upstairs in the light show, it's close to being amazing, but again, finesse and finishing touched cheapen it. The pool noodles? Became annoying, it appears that others agree as they were discarded throughout. Maybe a lanyard per family group would work? The mirror tiles are coming apart and exposing the workmanship of the set up. The projector room is not worth having, very anticlimactic and then the final room, which should be the final impression was very uneventful, largely due to the warehouse roof being clearly visible and letting all the light through, spoiling what could be a beautiful dark sensory experience with those fibreoptic strands. Chuck a ceiling above the final room to make it special as we exit!

I appreciate what it takes to put together an installation like this and would love to see it continue to succeed, it just needs a bit of care and attention to detail to really offer that mindblowing...

I don’t normally leave 1 star reviews but today I felt completely ripped off of the $140 that I paid for me and my 3 kids to go to Metartworld. I’m not sure if the other 5 star reviews here are genuine or fake, it was just such a bad experience for me and my kids today. Even my 7 year old son commented and said “Mum, I think this place is a scam” as he walked out. It certainly felt like we were scammed out of $140!

Firstly, we went here because it was a super hot day (37 degrees) and I was expecting the ’art gallery’ to be air conditioned. Instead we arrived to a warehouse building which was stinking hot. If you wanted to line up for the 9D experience, it was at least 1 hours wait in the stinking heat. We waited 20 minutes and the queue didn’t move AT ALL. Finally a staff member told us we could go upstairs to the VR area and get a free ride (normally you have to pay), since it was so busy downstairs and it would take at least another 40 mins to enter the area. We went upstairs and waited 10 minutes in the VR queue. Again the line didn’t move. Then we asked how lunch longer it would take to get onto the ride, and we were told another 20 minutes (there were only 5 people allowed on the VR ride at a time). We tried to get a refund after waiting in the 2 queues and seeing nothing, but we couldn’t. For all of the other games in VR area, you have to pay an extra $40 for 4 games.

The mirror rooms were the only parts which were air conditioned. Took some ok photos here and this was probably the only part we enjoyed for about 10-15 minutes - not worth $140 for the photos. The metal sculptures were ok. We left feeling ripped off and unhappy with the experience. The photos and videos on TikTok look a lot better...