The magic cube celebrates its 50th anniversary

Date: 2024.06.13
Starting out as a geometric model, it evolved into one of the world's most widely known spatial puzzle games. Generations have grown up twisting the sides of the Rubik's Cube, and even today, there are competitions to see who can solve it faster by arranging nine smaller cubes of the same colour on each side without taking it apart. Created by Ernő Rubik at MOME’s predecessor, the Hungarian University of Applied Arts, the Rubik's Cube is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2024, while its designer is also celebrating a milestone birthday as he is turning 80 this year.

To mark the occasion, MOME is hosting a comprehensive symposium analysing the cultural and social impacts of the Rubik's Cube. Moholy-Nagy Award-winning designer and architect Ernő Rubik, who will be present at MOME's celebratory event, created the Cube as an illustration for a geometric problem in 1974 while teaching at the university in Zugliget. He worked as an assistant lecturer, senior lecturer, and eventually an associate professor at MOME.  Initially intended as a tool to demonstrate spatial movements, the Cube turned out to be a fantastic game as well. 

In addition to kicking off a series of anniversary events, featuring student works and special installations celebrating the Cube and its designer worldwide this autumn, the symposium will include short talks on how this unique item has integrated into our civilisation and culture by prominent figures from Hungary's scientific and artistic communities. Cellist Ditta Rohmann will deliver a music-illustrated presentation titled Problem Solving in Music, drawing parallels between the working principle of the Rubik's Cube and compositional practices in music. Other talks will include Cubic Meters of Sand by designer Irma Földényi, The Rubik's Cube as Edutainment by mathematician László Mérő, The Cube and the Worm – Old Words for New Things by linguist, poet, and literary translator Ádám Nádasdy, Efficiency and Experience in Algorithmic Culture by Ákos Schneider examining the impact of the Cube on 20th- and 21st-century design culture and key scientific fields. The event will start with a welcome speech by Rector József Fülöp and will be moderated by Krisztina Boros. 

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Koós Pál, a Moholy-Nagy Művészeti Egyetem rektora, aki 24 éve szolgálja - korábban oktatóként, tanszékvezetőként, rektorhelyettesként, majd rektorként - az intézményt, elkötelezett az elmúlt napokban kialakult helyzet megoldása iránt. Célja a nyugodt, zavartalan munka és oktatás feltételeinek megteremtése, ehhez azonban elengedhetetlen a rektor legitimitásának tisztázása, így a mai napon a saját személyével kapcsolatban bizalmi szavazást kezdeményezett a Szenátusnál.

“Nem gondolhatjuk, hogy csak a mának élve kell érveinket értelmezni. A krízishelyzetekben messzebbre kell látnunk. Az egyetem megmaradása, normalitása és hírnevének erősítése túl kell mutasson a napi küzdelmek szintjén, megteremtve a közösség kohézióját, hiszen tétje közösségként csak a hétköznapi cselekedeteink összességének van” – fogalmazta meg gondolatait az egyetem korábbi rektora, egyetemi tanár.

For the fifth consecutive year, the Foundation for Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, serving as the institution’s maintainer, has been actively engaged in driving MOME’s revitalisation. Since 2020, the university’s budget has increased nearly fourfold, and the Foundation implemented the most significant faculty salary increase in the history of Hungarian higher education, while student scholarships and grants have more than doubled and grant income has increased almost twentyfold. Moreover, the university’s pioneering initiatives in sustainability and in supporting talents from disadvantaged backgrounds have become firmly established.
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