The internationally acclaimed Beyond Rubik’s Cube exhibition opens at Destiny USA’s The Muzium this Saturday through April 29, 2018. Through highly interactive physical and digital challenges, visitors will explore how the Rubik’s Cube emerged from a workshop in Communist-era Hungary to become a worldwide phenomenon, fostering creativity across the fields of science, technology, engineering, robotics, the visual arts, music, film, architecture and mathematics. A grand opening celebration is scheduled for Saturday, at 10:00 a.m. featuring prizes, refreshments, and demonstrations from local speed-solver, Daniel Li. Plus, guests are invited to bring in their old unsolved Rubik’s Cube to have it solved by Daniel Li with the purchase of an exhibit ticket. For the grand opening weekend (Saturday 2/17 and Sunday 2/18), The Muzium will celebrate teacher appreciation by offering teachers buy one, get one free admission to the exhibit (with valid school ID).
The $5 million exhibition was designed by Liberty Science Center with lead creative partner Google, and the Cube’s Budapest inventor Ernő Rubik. It debuted at LSC in Jersey City, NJ, in April 2014 in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the world’s bestselling puzzle toy.
“Beyond Rubik’s Cube brings together art, science and history in a one-of-a-kind exhibit, that will have every member of the family ready to invent, play and inspire,” said Aiden McGuire, director of marketing, Destiny USA. “Whether you’re a puzzle buff, nostalgic about the Cube and its history, or just looking for a fun and challenging way to spend a day, Beyond Rubik’s Cube will reveal something amazing our guests have never seen before.”
As guests and visitors enter the exhibition, digital projections of color and geometry dance in response to their movement, setting the tone for the immersive experience that awaits them in three discovery zones: Invent, Play, and Inspire.
The first zone, Invent, invites guests to jump right into the complex and compelling world of puzzle toys.
- Rare artifacts made of wood blocks, paper clips, and rubber bands show guests the humble and brilliant Hungarian origin of Ernő Rubik’s great invention.
- At Cube Prototype, guests can explore the complex geometry behind Rubik’s Cube by arranging 3D shapes and inventing their own puzzles.
- ·Art and mathematics meet at Tessellation Maker, an interactive touch table where guests create visually stunning patterns.
Next, guests move to the Play zone for more hands-on exploration.
- A Solve Bar welcomes cubers of all skill levels and provides animated instructions for conquering the Cube.
- At Robot Command, guests discover the parallels between computer programming and Cube solving as they program a robot to run a maze.
- Young visitors and their grownups work together on Cube Match, a game of colored building blocks with endless combinations.
Finally, guests venture into the Inspire zone to experience the Cube’s vast artistic and technological influence.
- Visitors can see how the Cube inspires them artistically by composing their own haiku using the Haikube; engineering a musical masterpiece in Cube Symphony; and contributing to the giant Collaborative Mosaic made entirely of Rubik’s Cubes.
- Guests control a giant Rubik’s Cube the size of a car to discover the internal mechanism that makes it work.
- ·A one-of-a-kind, 18-karat gold, jewel-encrusted, fully functional Rubik’s Cube is the world’s most expensive toy, estimated to be worth $2.5 million.
- ·At Robot Race, guests will challenge a speedcubing robot to solve their scrambled Cubes.
- Twisty Puzzle Design brings people together at a multi-touch digital table to design and test their own puzzles with other guests.
The Beyond Rubik's Cube exhibit will be open from 10:00 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. on Sundays. Visitors to Beyond Rubik’s Cube (www.beyondrubikscube.com) will be encouraged to share their own Rubik’s-inspired creations on google.com/+BeyondRubiksCube. In celebration of the newest exhibit opening this Saturday at the Muzium at Destiny USA, Onondaga County Executive Joanne Mahoney can be seen solving a Rubik's Cube here.
