Creatures from the Cube take over the Moss Arts Center for the annual Halloween-inspired Tech-or-Treat event from 5-8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29.

Presented by the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology and the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech, the free event will be held throughout the Moss Arts Center Grand Lobby and the Cube, located at 190 Alumni Mall. 

Tech-or-Treat gives children the opportunity to experience the creativity that flourishes at the intersection of science, engineering, art, and design. Virginia Tech students and faculty affiliated with the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology and from departments across campus interject a spooky twist into their research projects for Tech-or-Treat.

This year’s event features strange creatures and all of their parts and pieces, including bones, brains, and teeth.  One special guest is part animal and part machine and will surface from the depth of its home — “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Cube” — to beckon children into its lair. This and other creatures make their home in the Cube, which will be transformed into a Mesozoic land, part forest and part marsh. The area will be brought to life by a custom sound installation driven by the Cube’s 148 speakers, five subwoofers, and several floor-standing speakers that offer 360-degree audio capabilities to deliver a complete immersive experience.

Opportunities to get truly hands-on include controlling a skeleton hand through speech commands, operating a screaming and creaking robotic arm to grab and earn brain-building treats, and dancing with virtual monsters, ghouls, vampires, and werewolves through a technicolor wall display.

Brains are an important part of any spooky Halloween experience. Researchers will bring animal brains to Tech-or-Treat and explain how they study the structure of their function and use data from CT scans to learn more about not only the brains, but the blood and guts of fossils.

Creepy virtual worlds will be available for exploration. Participants will harness the power of math and computer graphics to write a short piece of computer code, bringing a virtual world to life. Head-mounted displays and position tracking will be available for exploring immersive worlds, including a 3D tornado visualization.

Costumes are encouraged at Tech-or-Treat and children must be accompanied by an adult.

Parking is available in the North End Parking Garage on Turner Street. Virginia Tech faculty and staff possessing a valid Virginia Tech parking permit can enter and exit the garage free of charge. Limited street parking is also available. Parking on Alumni Mall is free on weekdays after 5 p.m. and on weekends.

If you are an individual with a disability and desire an accommodation, please contact Kacy McAllister at 540-231-5300 or email kmcallis@vt.edu during regular business hours at least 10 business days prior to the event.

 

 

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