Ludwig Zeller

CubeBrowser (2008)

A situationistic voyage through online images and collaborative associations.

CubeBrowser is a six display cube with digital screens that connects to online databases like Flickr.com. The visitor is able to move through thousands of image-sets by turning and shaking the small cube in space. The pictures, which are streamed onto the cube from the internet, are grouped by tags. Horizontal turns change images, while vertical turns change to other tags and therefore associations. This creates a situationism-like “derive” in a collaboratively created archival architecture in your hands. What lies next to the mountains, what is next to the sky? CubeBrowser unfolds an awe-inspiring trip through the hidden realms of online databases.

Originally, I started this project in 2007 with the help of Andreas Muxel and Charlotte Krauß.

Figure 1: What happens if database architectures and tactile knowledge find together?

Figure 2: The first prototype used a 3D simulation, the second was a physical mockup

Figure 3: CubeBrowser is only controlled by turning it horizontally or vertically