about moëra

Moëra is a collective project initiated by Émilie Brout & Maxime Marion, conceived as a digital sanctuary where the worlds of twenty-one artists coexist. Drawing in particular on the Dark Forest Theory of the Internet, the project imagines an exhibition space at a deliberately chosen scale, both visible and protected, where presences can encounter one another without being fully exposed to the public realm.

Each invited artist brings in a figure from their practice, integrated into the garden as a statue covered in stone and moss. In a landscape bathed in eclipse light, these presences compose a shared site of memory attuned to connections and gestures of care. Moëra is a video game, a living archive, an online/IRL group exhibition, and a tool to connect.

Developed in Unreal Engine, the work offers a generative and contemplative journey through this space, with a camera moving between the figures and occasionally opening onto their inner worlds. This website extends the experience through discreet interactions that can alter the garden: for example, the garden is influenced whenever artists and visitors connect or log in. Visitors can also light a candle at the foot of each statue, which will remain lit for three days, or draw and write on Moëra’s pebble beach through the online interface.

The project continues the research conducted by Émilie Brout & Maxime Marion during their residency at Villa Kujoyama in 2025. Hopefully, it will evolve over time.

Moëra’s first IRL exhibition takes place at Zoo Centre d’Art Contemporain in Nantes, France.

With the support of the Fondation des Artistes; the Villa Kujoyama post-residency program, with the support of the Institut français, the Institut français du Japon and the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation; and Ambivalences, an interregional program led by Electroni[k], Oblique/s, Station Mir and Stereolux, with the support of the French Ministry of Culture, DRAC Bretagne, DRAC Normandie and DRAC Pays de la Loire.