Museum wants visitors to touch, feel art
New York – Billed as the place where art meets technology, New York’s latest museum is promising to reinvent the format with an “immersive and sensory” experience.
The Mercer Labs Museum of Art and Technology features works by Roy Nachum, a painter, sculptor and sound and light designer.
Open since January in Manhattan’s financial district, Nachum and investor Michael Cayre said they hope to turn a profit from the $35 million (about R655 million) they spent on the space, a former shopping mall that has its formal grand opening on 28 March.
Even for a city as expensive as the US financial capital, which overflows with cultural and entertainment attractions, the prices are steep.
Adults pay $52, while retirees and youngsters pay $46.
But entrepreneur and real estate developer Cayre insists it represents value for an hour of the “ultimate experience”.
Mercer Labs is perfectly positioned to be Instagram and TikTok catnip, like many of the New York sites opened in recent years, including the panoramic views from the Vanderbilt Tower’s “Summit One,” as well as the One World Trade Centre and The Edge skyscrapers.
Nachum has been based in New York for 20 years and is best known for designing the art for megastar Rihanna’s 2015 album Anti. The cover features a blindfolded child wearing a golden crown with braille lettering – a homage to Nachum’s visually impaired grandmother.
Nachum said Mercer had taken a new approach. “Every museum, every gallery you have, you cannot touch the work. We want people here to touch the work.”
In a “dragon’s lair”, 500 000 LED lamps flicker in time to convince visitors they are in the presence of mythical creatures. –