The Ars Electronica Futurelab designed an artistic application for the interactive media and learning environment The Cube at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia, which visualizes the mood on campus.
The Cube is one of the biggest interactive learning environments in the world, consisting of 26 multi-touch-screens, spanning across two floors, in 2015. It is located at the Science and Engineering Centre of QUT and serves as a hub for scientific and digital exploration. In collaboration with QUT researchers and by using knowledge and data from the research areas in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), The Cube enables the public to discover, visualize, and participate in research projects. As citizen scientists, visitors can think about the big questions of the 21st century – in school programs, workshops, or special tracks for high schools, students, or postgraduates.Â
The Soul of the Cube; photo: Peter Holzkorn
The Soul of the Cube; photo: Peter Holzkorn
The Soul of the Cube: A Glimpse into the Soul of a Campus; photo: QUT Cube Studio
Since The Cube showcases various applications that have to be started and stopped manually during daily operation, the media environment regularly presented a black picture during the transition periods. This is exactly where Soul of the Cube comes in: The artistic application serves to harmonize the transitions between the beginning and end of different applications.
For this purpose, information such as the consumption data of the house or the access data of a research publication database of the QUT Campus is mapped and used as a basis for different mood patterns. Soul of the Cube is a visualization, a creature that lives on the displays of the cube and changes its form and color based on the respective data.
The people around The Cube can also influence the virtual being: If the Soul of the Cube appears in a transitional phase between applications, visitors can add small elements, so-called “nodes”, to the appearance of the creature by touching one of the touchscreens. Thus Soul of the Cube is not only a deep look into the soul of a campus, but also a possibility to influence the atmosphere itself to a certain extent.
Read more in an interview with Peter Holzkorn on the Ars Electronica Blog: The Soul of the Cube: A Glimpse into the Soul of a Campus
Credits
Ars Electronica Futurelab: Peter Holzkorn, Horst Hörtner, Benjamin Mayr, Michael Mayr, Kristefan Minski, Clemens Scharfen, Florian Berger
Partners: Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Cube Studio (Precincts, QUT), ePrints Team (Library, QUT), ViseR (IFE, QUT)