Billed as a ‘museum of art and technology,’ Mercer Labs has generated buzz since opening in Spring ’24 across the street from the Oculus Transportation Hub in lower Manhattan. The 15-room immersive experience is a partnership between Roy Nachum, an NYC-based multi-media artist whose work has ranged from cover art for Rihanna’s 2015 ‘Anti’ album to photorealist portraiture collaborations with blind individuals, and developer Michael Cayre. In its current iteration, all rooms have been programmed with Nachum’s work, offering essentially a museum-sized solo show designed to overwhelm the senses with projected images in mirrored rooms. Signage in braille, an audio installation and a display of portraits previously shown at Chelsea gallery ‘A Hug From the Art World,’ nod to Nachum’s interest in creating accessibility for people who are sight-impaired, though the overall experience is designed to impress visually. Here, in a room titled ‘The Dragon,’ 507,000 LED lights powered by Dragon02 technology developed by Ledpulse create images via vertically-hung strings of LED lights. Mirrored walls, floor and ceiling amplify the effect, which Mercer Labs describes as like ‘passing through a hologram.’ (On view at 21 Dey Street. Tickets at https://www.mercerlabs.com).
