THE CUBE – commu(nica)ting vessels through interstellar corridors – is our pavilion for the 2021 Kaohsiung International Container Arts Festival: ‘Van Buren’s Supernova’. This year due to COVID-19, containers are a scarce commodity, and usage of alternative materials was encouraged. Therefore, we sought to convey the essence of a container in relation to this year’s theme.

Rethinking The Future Awards 2022
First Award | Pop-ups and Temporary (Built)

©Studio Millspace

A large part of the container’s existence, it floats on sea, it exists in transport, it floats between the four corners of the earth. Essentially, containers drift in the ocean, like people in the world or stars in the sky.

THE CUBE’s white, lightweight structural main frame generates a hierarchy of spaces, black holes, and Interstellar travel corridors in which the vessels float freely. Lightweight translucent Polycarbonate panels are used to retain the shape of the container, at the same time creating horizontal luminous volumes that evoke the feeling of a floating star or spaceship drifting in the Milky Way.

©Studio Millspace

One vessel appears to have returned to Earth, or is it yet to take off? The other three vessels are each following its own unique trajectory – guided by shining stars and interconnected lines of light – enabling visitors to explore the mobility of the unknown.

©Studio Millspace

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 and the rise and fall of the planet. Through the hollow vertical container in the centre of THE CUBE, a connection is made between the visitor’s gaze and the sky. A connection via infinite scattered beams of light in the kaleidoscopic, interstellar travel corridor. While looking up to seek signals from the universe, the sky delivers a reflection, which is nothing but reflections of themselves.