Oh! Gizmo

By Evan Ackerman

An Italian artist (make that artist/philosopher) is working on creating 999 black wooden cubes, each of which is sealed with something inside. According to the artist, “In this deep sense the thing inside the cube is a representation of the Absolute. A good definition of Absolute can also be “something that doesn’t draw its reality from the fact of being perceived”. Curiosity is paradoxical and comes from the useless hope to perceive the Absolute.”

Right, so anyway, what’s inside it? Flight data? An iPhone? Nobody knows for sure, except the artist, and he’s not about to talk (not until he sells all his cubes, anyway). A few things are for certain: each cube is different, all the cubes are somehow linked together, and (here’s the tricky part) opening the cube apparently destroys the meaning of whatever is inside. That’s enough to make me simultaneously want one, and know for sure that if I ever got one, it would drive me absolutely 100% guaranteed insane.

You can get yourself one of these black cubes, but they’re not cheap: #54 will cost you $83 and from there the price goes up by 50 cents per cube until you reach the last one available (#998) which costs $555. And believe it or not, none of the 76 sold so far have been opened… yet.

[ The Black Cubes ] VIA [ Core77 ]