Confront Your Inner Demons in 4D at Mercer Labs This Spooky Season

New York has a great spectrum of haunted houses every October, from the kind that require you to sign waivers before you enter, to the kind that are apparently haunted by Jimmy Fallon. If the thought of werewolves in rubber masks and Jimmy Fallon doing whatever it is that he is doing doesn’t quite frighten you, you can try something that’s a little more psychologically terrifying in Lower Manhattan. 

The exhibit “Dark Matter” will add 15 installations to Mercer Labs, the 36,000-sq. ft- museum of art and technology at 21 Dey St. Already home to experimental artist and Mercer cofounder/creative director Roy Nachum’s immersive visuals and interactive displays, “Dark Matter” will dig into darkness in art history, adding even more visual and audio installations, oil paintings, infinity rooms and robots to the space. The entire show is an exploration of the depths of the human psyche and paranormal expression, which sure sounds (existentially) spooky. 

Nachum, who designed the album artwork for Rihanna’s 2016 album “Anti,” told Time Out New York that his own nightmares and inner demons were the inspiration for the work. Hypebeast says the exhibit channels “the unsettledness of Francisco de Goya’s Black Paintings or the uncanny allure in ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’ by Hieronymous Bosch.” Jimmy Fallon could never! 

Mercer Labs is already a hallucination-inducing venue in the best way possible, boasting state-of-the-art technology that creates light projections, immerses you in 4D rooms and takes you through a maze of exhibits. So you can expect “Dark Matter” to be a haunted house to remember — hopefully not in your nightmares. 

The show runs from 8 p.m. to midnight, October 3-30. Tickets are $52 for adults. 

photo: courtesy Mercer Labs