The M-Cube Foundation constantly explores new forms of art where culture and technology converge to create or reveal new meanings.
In April 2025, it visited Mercer Labs and its Museum of Art and Technology – M.O.A.T. in NYC, as well as THE DARK ROOMS in Berlin.
The M.O.A.T. offers fifteen exhibition spaces with immersive experiences created by artist and Mercer Labs co-founder Roy Nachum.
An experimental artist known for his multifaceted practice—ranging from painting, sculpture, and architecture to installation and technology—Roy imagines works in which nature merges with machines, and humans take on the form of dolls. Braille and a child with a golden crown covering his eyes are recurring motifs.
Nachum introduces Braille—as a form of communication and expression of perception and inclusivity—after spending a week blindfolded to better understand the challenges faced by people with visual impairments. It serves as a poetic vehicle for his message—even though that message remains deliberately veiled.
By incorporating Braille, Nachum invites viewers to engage with his art beyond its visual elements, emphasizing the importance of touch and the experiences of the visually impaired.
This aligns closely with the mission of the M-Cube Foundation, which—together with NEEEU in Berlin—is developing GLEAM, a (video)game designed to be played by visually impaired users alongside sighted players.
Only partially interactive and mostly contemplative, the rooms play with the magic that arises when the technological and the physical merge, blending mirrors, integrations, and illusions designed to create a “wow” effect for visitors—though without diving too deeply into the underlying themes.
THE DARK ROOMS is a format conceived in 2016 by the collective founded by Clara Sauer, Sven Sauer (Oscar winner for Matte Painting in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and three-time EMMY Award winner for visual effects on HBO’s Game of Thrones), and Wir im Raum.
Over the years, more than 40 artists have been hosted in historic and abandoned locations—destined to be permanently demolished after the exhibition—in a kind of hyper-contemporary urbex (urban exploration). These are places kept secret until the moment of the exhibition, revealed only to a select few direct visitors.
THE DARK ROOMS is designed to offer audiences a new way of engaging with art and to challenge the conventional presentation format of the white cube gallery.
The latest chapter in this artistic experience is THE DARK ROOMS Hotel.
An abandoned space that was once full of life—where people came and went, celebrated, loved, argued, and dreamed. The rooms still carry within them these invisible stories.
Spread across 9 floors, the exhibition invites visitors into darkness to discover light-based, sound-based, and/or interactive installations by 15 international artists. Through them, the show uncovers narratives that would otherwise remain hidden—exploring desires central to human experience but often neglected by society.
The hotel becomes a time capsule. Its silent hallways, padded by thick, worn carpets, muffle footsteps and allow guests to glide almost noiselessly through the abandoned corridors.
Here too, darkness enhances the senses, enabling the artists to take us into another physical and mental dimension—prompting reflection on pressing issues such as ongoing conflicts, energy consumption, the rapid growth of AI, the human-machine relationship, climate change, and the tone and content of political discourse.
The journey concludes with a fully analog piece: a basket of tiny beans that, when set into mechanical motion, simulates the sound of waves lapping—inducing a meditative state in the visitor.
Glass shards from bomb explosions in various countries become a landscape of sound and color as a little train passes by, projecting beams of light.
The reflection begins with social media accounts.
In 2023, the number of bots active online matched the number of humans within the possible communication space. What now?