Cube Fest features some of the most inventive works in immersive technology

Video: youtu.be/tsdkutEdGgs

Presented by the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology and the Moss Arts Center, the festival’s events will be held in the Moss Arts Center, located at 190 Alumni Mall.

Cube Fest brings together international audio technology experts, computer engineers, music technology experts, musicians, and composers who present lectures, conduct workshops, and perform original compositions. Included in the four-day schedule of events is a series of concerts curated from submissions to an international call for works specifically created for high-density loudspeaker arrays.

In Cube Fest tradition, the event will also include a spatialized presentation of an iconic album in its entirety. This year, attendees will have two opportunities to experience “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” – the fifth studio album by the late singer, songwriter, and pop culture superstar David Bowie – diffused over the Cube’s 140-channel spatial audio system.

While a very small number of similar arts technology festivals exist in national and international university settings, they approach spatial music and audio technology topics from an exclusively academic perspective. Cube Fest, however, is a one-of-a-kind festival that is designed for general audiences.

The centerpiece of the festival, the Cube is an experimental venue and living laboratory where faculty, staff, and students with the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology are leading a revolution in sound with their innovative work. Located in the Moss Arts Center, the four-story black box-type environment is widely accepted as one of the most technologically advanced venues for immersive environments, attracting international attention for its technical capabilities that support a wide range of audio approaches, from data sonification to spatial sound composition. With its multichannel speaker system, holosonic sound display, and real-time audio/visual rendering system, the facility is actually a massive instrument.

Featured guest artists for Cube Fest 2018 include Grammy-nominated guitarist and producer Christopher Willits, who serves as co-founder of spatial audio/3D sound platform Envelop and creative collective Overlap; Tokyo, Japan-based fusion musicians Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa; and acclaimed ballad singer Elizabeth LaPrelle, orignally from Rural Retreat, Virginia, who will join multi-instrumentalist Anna Roberts-Gevalt to honor Appalachian artistry as the musical duo Anna & Elizabeth.

Cube Fest schedule 

Thursday, August 9
7 p.m.
Spatial Music Workshop: “Research ReSounds”
Cube, Moss Arts Center
Free; first-come, first-served, but to guarantee your seat, register through the box office.

Friday, August 10
3 p.m.
Paul Koonce Performance/Lecture: “The Theory and Practice of Wave Field Synthesis”
Perform Studio, Moss Arts Center
Free; first-come, first-served, but to guarantee your seat, register through the box office.

5 p.m.
“Sounds in Focus”
Perform Studio, Moss Arts Center
$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required).

7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Anna & Elizabeth: “The Moon in Her Fan: Imagining Texas Gladden”
Cube, Moss Arts Center
$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required).

Saturday, August 11
11 a.m.
Ableton Live Workshop with Ben Casey and Christopher Willits
Perform Studio, Moss Arts Center
Free; first-come, first-served, but to guarantee your seat, register through the box office.

3 p.m.
“Sounds in Focus”
Perform Studio, Moss Arts Center
Free; first-come, first-served, but to guarantee your seat, register through the box office.

7 p.m.
Christopher Willits
Cube, Moss Arts Center
$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required).

9 p.m.
“Sounds in Space”
Cube, Moss Arts Center
$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required).

Sunday, August 12
1 p.m.
“Sounds in Focus”
Perform Studio, Moss Arts Center
$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required).

3 p.m.
“Sounds in Motion”
Cube, Moss Arts Center
$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required).

7 p.m.
Dustin Wong & Takako Minekawa
Cube, Moss Arts Center
$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required).

9 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
“The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars”
Cube, Moss Arts Center
$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required).

Tickets

Tickets can be purchased (or reserved for free events) online; at the Moss Arts Center’s box office, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300 during box office hours.

Parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street. Virginia Tech faculty and staff possessing a valid Virginia Tech parking permit can enter and exit the garage free of charge. Limited street parking is also available. Parking on Alumni Mall is free on weekdays after 5 p.m. and on weekends.

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Kacy McAllister at 540-231-5300 or email [email protected] during regular business hours.