Cubus

Synopsis

This room is a portal in space and time.

You walk into a dimly lit room. In front of you, a small cube on a plinth. This room is a portal in space and time.

If you move the cube and turn a different face towards you, you travel to another world, another dimension. Things happen in every new universe. You decide whether to stay or go somewhere else. There is no way back. If you leave, you miss whatever is happening where you are now… Sometimes a great deal happens, sometimes nothing does; it all depends on the world you are in…

Cubus is an interactive multimedia installation, a stage toy for family audiences: children and their families experience changing the perspective of what they are watching by freely handling the projection cube.

Dramaturgical approach

Can we build a dramaturgical framework that allows the audience to choose and shape the production they are watching?

Cubus grew out of a research process into what emerging technologies can offer within a dramaturgical context.

It is a technical and dramaturgical demonstration built around the empowerment of the audience, opening up a wide field of research into the relationship between spectator and artist. Here the audience doesn’t just attend: it decides.

For programmers

Cubus works in theatres, libraries, cultural centres and non-conventional venues: all it needs is a large, open room in half-light. The installation is adaptable; the final placement of the pedestal, the projection and the lighting is agreed with the venue.

Runs are 20-minute sessions for small groups of around ten children with accompanying adults, repeatable throughout the day: the installation runs live for six hours a day, with a two-hour lunch break. Session length and number are agreed with the organisation.

What happens depends on who moves the cube: no two sessions are alike. Ages 6 and up, preferably accompanied by an adult… who will end up wanting to move the cube as much as the children do.

The room stays dark – an essential condition for the projection – and there is sound throughout: worth flagging in advance to sensitive visitors.

A learning pack is available to prepare the visit and extend the experience in the classroom, for schools and organisers.

Credits

Original idea, creation and artistic direction: Andrés Beladiez

Music composition and soundscape: Alberto Sanz and Andrés Beladiez

Lighting design: Andrés Beladiez

Cube typeface design: Belén Morata

Set construction: Mamen Rodrigo

Hardware and programming consultancy: Juan Martínez Malo

Distribution: Isis Abellán. Proversus

Production: Mamen Rodrigo

Photographs: Mamen Rodrigo & Bombillo

Made with: Unreal Engine 5.4, Ableton Live and Isadora Troikatronix