JUNE 02, 2016

Beyond Rubik’s Cube exhibition opens at Discovery Place June 11

CHARLOTTE – One out of every seven people on the planet has played with a Rubik’s Cube. With over 1 billion Rubik’s Cubes sold around the world, now comes the internationally-acclaimed exhibition, Beyond Rubik’s Cube, the world’s first museum exhibition about the Rubik’s Cube.

Opening at Discovery Place on Saturday, June 11, 2016, this highly interactive exhibition allows visitors to explore how the Rubik’s Cube emerged from a workshop in Communist-era Hungary to become a worldwide phenomenon, fostering creativity across the fields of science, technology, engineering, robotics, the visual arts, music, film, architecture and mathematics.

Beyond Rubik’s Cube combines highly interactive physical and digital challenges with authentic artifacts to create an extraordinary experience that celebrates and inspires innovation. Guests are invited to jump right into the complex and compelling world of puzzle toys, featuring:

• Dozens of rare artifacts from Ernő Rubik’s personal workshop, including the humble origins of the first Rubik’s Cube made of wood blocks, paper clips and rubber bands.
• The world’s most expensive toy – The Masterpiece Cube – a one-of-a-kind, 18-karat gold, jewel-encrusted fully functional Rubik’s Cube, estimated to be worth $2.5 million.
• A giant Rubik’s Cube the size of a car that guests can manipulate to see how the internal mechanism of the puzzle work.
• A Solve Bar where cubers of all skill levels can follow instructions for conquering the Cube.
• A speedcubing robot that can solve scrambled cubes.
• A giant Collaborative Mosaic wall where guests can contribute to making a mural entirely of Rubik’s Cubes.
• Several multi-touch digital tables where you can design and try your own puzzles and patterns

Kick off the summer fun for this family exhibition at the Rubik’s Cube Block Party on opening day. Meet local cubers as they showcase their talents in extreme cubing and share their secrets to cube-solving success. Enjoy performances from local talent like aerialists, dancers and cubers; tinker with Cubelets robot blocks and Citi Blocks; search for hidden Cubes in a Museum-wide scavenger hunt; pose for a super square photo in our photo booth; and more. Be there and be square!

Keep the fun going every Saturday this summer by celebrating the world’s bestselling puzzle toy with Summer Solve It Saturdays, featuring Rubik’s Cube-inspired activities and fun for the whole family. Each Solve It Saturday will feature brainteasers, puzzles, friendly cubing competitions, extreme cubing demonstrations and more. Each weekend will hold something new and exciting you won’t want to miss.

Can you solve the Rubik’s Cube in under two minutes? Enter our 2 Minutes To Win It competition during every Solve It Saturday from 10:00 a.m. – noon. If you can solve the cube before the clock runs out, your admission is FREE! Look for our cubing tent every Saturday at Sixth Street Admissions to enter.

Beyond Rubik’s Cube runs Saturday, June 11 through Monday, September 5, 2016 and is free with Museum admission. Discovery Place admission is $17 for adults (14-59); $13 for children (2-13); $15 for seniors (60+); and free for Discovery Place Members and children younger than 2, plus tax. IMAX® tickets may be added for an additional $5 per person. Discounts are available for groups of 15 or more. Children age 13 and younger must be accompanied by a responsible adult while in Discovery Place. Guests can purchase tickets online at discoveryplace.org., via phone at 704.372.6261 x300 or in person.

Beyond Rubik’s Cube is a touring exhibition designed by Liberty Science Center with lead creative partner Google, and the Cube’s Budapest inventor Ernő Rubik. Special thanks to the Charlotte sponsor, Google Fiber, for their support and our media partner, The Charlotte Observer.

About Discovery Place

One of the top hands-on science museums in the nation, Discovery Place provides ever-changing, entertaining facilities that engage people in the active exploration of science, technology and nature. The Museum brings relevant, contemporary science to life through groundbreaking exhibitions, interactive educational programming and hands-on activities.

Discovery Place is located in uptown Charlotte at 301 N. Tryon Street. Convenient parking is available in the Museum’s parking deck – the Carol Grotnes Belk Complex – at the corner of Sixth and Church Streets. For more information about Discovery Place, call 704.372.6261, visit discoveryplace.org or connect with Discovery Place on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Discovery Place, Inc. owns and operates Discovery Place, Charlotte Nature Museum, Discovery Place KIDS-Huntersville and Discovery Place KIDS-Rockingham and is supported, in part, with funding from the Arts & Science Council.

About Liberty Science Center

Liberty Science Center (LSC.org) is a 300,000-square-foot not-for-profit learning center located in Liberty State Park on the Jersey City bank of the Hudson near the Statue of Liberty. Dedicated to bringing the power, promise, and pure fun of science and technology to people of all ages, Liberty Science Center houses 12 museum exhibition halls, a live animal collection with 110 species, giant aquariums, a 3D theater, the world’s largest IMAX Dome Theater, live simulcast surgeries, a tornado-force wind simulator, K-12 classrooms and labs, and teacher-development programs. More than 250,000 students visit the Science Center each year, and tens of thousands more participate in the Center’s offsite and online programs. LSC is the most visited cultural institution in New Jersey with more than 650,000 visitors annually and the largest interactive science center in the NYC-NJ metropolitan area.

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