Unpacking the development of Nature imagined

Posted on 7 June, 2018

Q&A with Vanessa Van Ooyen and Simon Harrison

Nature imagined is an exciting new collaboration and will be displayed in two mediums: in the William Robinson Gallery and digitally on The Cube. This unique interaction of art and science provides an inspiring and explorative digital experience and this week we talk to Vanessa Van Ooyen, Senior Curator of the William Robinson Gallery, and Simon Harrison, The Cube Studio Manager about the development of Nature imagined.

Vanessa: The William Robinson Gallery and The Cube are two very different venues to showcase William Robinson’s work, how did the idea for Nature imagined come about? And can you tell us how Robinson’s knowledge of the works has informed the project?

As the gallery is focused solely on William Robinson’s work, we are interested in finding innovative ways of exploring his practice and engaging a wider audience with it. We are fortunate enough to be a part of a multidisciplinary university with fantastic resources such as The Cube that allows for exciting collaborations. Both venues have a strong focus on education, so it was only natural for a partnership between the spaces to showcase Bill’s work to its full potential. Read more

Calling all creatives: The Cube 2018 Artist in Residence program

Posted on 23 April, 2018

Are you a professional working in visual art, interactive design, science communication, digital storytelling, software engineering, data visualisation or games design?

Do you want to push the boundaries of your practice and develop an innovative project on one of the world’s largest interactive display spaces?

If answered ‘yes’ to the above – it is time to start your application for The Cube’s 2018 Artist in Residence program!

The Cube, 2013

The Cube turns five!

Posted on 7 March, 2018

What a year it has been! We can’t believe we’re already half a decade old.

The Cube just turned 5, and what better way to celebrate than taking a look at some of the highlights of the past year.

Georgie Pinn’s Cube Residency

Cube Resident George Pinn brought a unique flare to The Cube, developing an immersive and interactive project entitled Echo. Echo used facial tracking technology, animation and sound to explore notions of empathy and shared identity.

Image © QUT. ECHO

Exploring art and science over Summer

Posted on 6 February, 2018

How was your summer? We spent ours exploring art and science with lots of new friends! Our Public Programs Officer, Kerry Turnbull takes us through the highlights of the 2018 Draw it. Code it. | QUT Summer Holiday Program at The Cube.

What a blast January was! We were thrilled to welcome over 5,000 visitors to The Cube from 6 to 14 January during the summer holiday break. Families, eager to break the school holiday boredom blues, brought along children excited to engage in the range of hands-on activities on offer at The Cube and QUT Art Museum.

Image © QUT. Code-A-Bot at Draw It Code It Holiday Program.

Deconstructing Gosia Wlodarczak’s artist residency at QUT Art Museum

Posted on 11 January, 2018

“One of the main rules which structure all my drawings is that I do not work from imagination. I draw my surrounding as I look at it in the very moment of mark making. Every line, every shape you see on the drawing belongs to the shape which is in my field of vision while I am drawing”. Gosia Wlodarczak

If you have visited QUT Art Museum during the Draw It. Code It. QUT Summer Holiday Program, you will have seen drawing artist Gosia Wlodarczak (pronounced “Vwodarchak”) hard at work drawing faces inside a closed, custom-built room. We thought we would shed some light on Gosia’s installation in order to demystify her work and inspire you to submit your own self-portrait to the artist!

Image © Longin Sarnecki

Finding maths in movies – you just need to know where to look!

Posted on 11 January, 2018

QUT’s resident pop-culture roboticist Professor Michael Milford (Science and Engineering Centre and Australian Centre for Robotic Vision) joined host Lee Constable for a quick-fire chat about maths in movies, as part of the Fast Five event at the 2018 Family Fun Day. Here’s a recap of their talk…

80s style games with a maths twist!

Posted on 4 January, 2018

Everything old is new again and you can get your 80s fix with The Retro Arcade, which launches on 6 January 2018 at the Draw It. Code It. QUT Summer Holiday Program. Using the power of algorithms and Unity 3D software to immerses users in an 80’s style world, The Retro Arcade includes two new games, Mighty Pucks and Track Stars, and old favourites Block Breakers, Space Junk and Parabola Pirates.

Learn the basics of coding through play

Posted on 2 January, 2018

As our world rapidly changes with the influence of technology touching every aspect of our lives, it’s vital that children are equipped with the necessary skills to navigate a dynamic and ever-evolving future. In Queensland, the Department of Education and Training’s #codingcounts initiative places great emphasis on coding and robotics technologies, introducing these learning areas into the curriculum to ensure all students have the opportunity and support to become digital creators and innovators of tomorrow.

The Cube’s most recent project, Code-A-Bot, aims to teach users the fundamentals of coding in a highly interactive and immersive digital game, which also educates users on recycling and robotics. Cube Studio Manager, Sean Druitt and Digital Interactive Designer, Simon Harrison talk about the journey to develop Code-A-Bot, and the opportunities it provides for students to learn about the fundamentals of coding.

School teams battle it out at the 2017 FIRST® LEGO® League

Posted on 23 November, 2017

This year’s FIRST® LEGO® League Tournament at QUT Gardens Point was a blast! 36 teams, coaches, and spectators arrived bright and early at The Cube on Saturday 18 November to take part in the annual robotics challenge for students aged 9–16 years.

Teams and spectators arriving at The Cube.

This year’s HYDRO DYNAMICS theme delivered lots of learnings in relation to sourcing, transporting, and disposing of water. Students also applied their water solving skills to real-world problems in the Research Project Challenge eg. improving water fountains at their school or designing their own reusable watter bottle prototype. Read more

Tackling Australia’s waste problem – one bot at a time!

Posted on 13 September, 2017

Australia’s waste problem is real and we want to create awareness and inspire kids (and adults) to look after our environment. Code-A-Bot has a strong environmental message teaching visitors to code, based on simple programming language featuring drag and drop, and the goal is to create efficiencies in a recycling plant for the future.

Code-A-Bot

Based around a fictional recycling facility DERP (Department of Environmental Resource Processing), the aim of the game is to program robots to sort waste into material categories for processing and recycling. Robots can be coded to move, sense, and collect or distribute rubbish around the facility and into the correct bins. We need your help to make DERP run more efficiently!