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Themed | Design & Light

The Cube


Quality Innovation United



Short description

Quality Innovation United (QIU) has completed THE CUBE for the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts’ International Container Art Festival. The festivals’ theme of Van Buren Supernova revolves around light, stars, hope and a new life. THE CUBE is to spark the imagination about Kaohsiung’s future while firmly linked to the city’s port heritage.

THE CUBE is a pavilion consisting of a white, lightweight rectangle steel frame structure. It generates a hierarchy of spaces in which five container-like objects engage with uniquely by hanging, floating, and escaping. The dynamic lighting and materiality of the volumes offers the visitor a multi-dimensional interaction.

Due to the pandemic, containers are a scarce commodity, alternative materials were used to construct the pavilion. Lightweight translucent Polycarbonate panels retain the shape of the container, creating horizontal luminous volumes. They are guided by the interconnected lines of light – enabling visitors to explore the mobility of the unknown.

The pulsating translucent horizontal vessels evoke curiosity, and guide visitors into the centre of THE CUBE, while the pulsating rhythm of light and dark represents the pulse of life. The visitors are invited to enter a horizontal vessel to examine the ‘breathing organism of light’. They are perceived as silhouettes to the spectators on the outside and as such, they become performers of the art installation.

Through the hollow vertical container in the centre of the pavilion, a connection is made between the visitor and the sky. While gazing through the kaleidoscope-like interior, the sky offers infinite reflections of themselves.

THE CUBE kicked off the Taiwan Lantern Festival this year. Over a hundred thousand people visited the pavilion over the Lunar New Year period. QIU’s pulsating luminous containers appeared to be floating amongst the lines of light, together they transformed Kaohsiung Port’s industrial skyline.

Entry details
LocationTaiwan
Lead designerYoung Chiu, Jolanda Oud
Design teamTakuji Hasegawa, Ficus Hsu
Photography creditsStudio Millspace
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