Cubehenge, the brainchild of Cubes Concept, was conceived last autumn with Glastonbury Festival in mind. Constructed using IBCs (1000 litre containers usually employed in the transportation of liquids), each cube was fitted with an LED colour changing unit supplied by UK distributor Batmink Ltd and was individually controlled via DMX using ChamSys MagicQ software and Mini Wing controller.
The 40m diameter installation consisted of 116 cubes and provided a focal point to the Dance Village, producing spectacular effects and enabling people to dance in and around the construction.
Cubes Concept Director, Mark Robinson elaborates: "The original idea was relatively simple - create a full scale illuminated representation of Stonehenge that dancers could interact with. As is often the case, the difficulty came in translating this simple idea in to a physical reality.
"Bearing in mind the whole ethos of Glastonbury, we wanted the installation to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Once we found the IBCs - containers that were not only the perfect size but fully recyclable - we were on our way."
"We wanted to use LED because of its low power draw and minimal carbon footprint, however sourcing an LED unit that was compact and yet powerful enough to illuminate the frosted cubes proved difficult. We tried numerous fittings, none of which really delivered what was required, until we discovered the Visage Multipar 375 through Batmink Ltd. It's a cracking little unit that produces an impressive output from a compact housing. These, coupled with the excellent ChamSys software, really did the job. Chris at ChamSys and Kevin at Batmink couldn't have been more helpful and the cubes finally took shape. Once we had a few constructed and were able to build a test set up, it soon became obvious that these units would exceed our expectations in terms of brightness and impact."
For those who missed it, Cubes Concept will be creating a new installation at The Big Chill, Malvern Hills, Herefordshire, August 5 - 8 2010.
(Claire Beeson)
