A celebration of spatial music, immersive experiences, and 3D audio technology, Cube Fest returns to Virginia Tech Aug. 8-11, bringing together international music and audio technology experts, computer engineers, musicians, and composers to present a series of public performances. 

Presented by the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology and the Moss Arts Center, the festival’s events will be held in the Moss Arts Center, located at 190 Alumni Mall. 

Cube Fest features a series of concerts curated from submissions to an international call for works specifically created for high-density loudspeaker arrays. The centerpiece of the festival, the Cube is an experimental venue and living laboratory where faculty, staff, and students with the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology are leading a revolution in sound with their innovative work.  

Located in the Moss Arts Center, the Cube is widely accepted as one of the most technologically advanced venues for immersive experiences, attracting international attention for its technical capabilities that support a wide range of audio approaches, from data sonification to spatial sound composition.  

New to the festival this year is a selection of screenings and performances that utilize the Cube’s 360-degree projection environment, the Cyclorama. This cinema-in-the-round experience invites viewers to explore new forms of narrative and multi-faceted technological experiments in a fully immersive and visually encompassing four-projection environment. These events will incorporate experimental computer animation techniques, creative coding, photogrammetry, 360-degree video, and a range of other immersive technology techniques.  

In Cube Fest tradition, the festival will feature a spatialized presentation of an iconic album in its entirety. Part of the festival’s “Listening Lounge” series, hear the Beatles' “White Album” spatialized over the Cube’s 140-channel spatial audio system on Sunday, Aug. 11, at 9 p.m.   

Other Cube Fest events include live performances from artists who will present multichannel music compositions that utilize data to enhance the experience, along with live and fixed media pieces that have been written or created in the Cube. 

Family-friendly workshops will explore the basics of the Cube’s technology, including spatialized audio and immersive visual systems, such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and large-format projection.  

The complete Cube Fest schedule includes: 

Thursday, Aug. 8 
3 p.m.

Sounds in Focus I

Perform Studio 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 

 
5 p.m.

Cyclorama Screening

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 
 

7 p.m. 

Immersive Multisensory Performance: N/TOPIA

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 
 

9 p.m. 

Immersive Multisensory Performance: N/TOPIA

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 
 
Friday, August 9 
1 p.m.

Spatial Audio 101

Perform Studio 

Free; register through the box office. 

 
3 p.m.

Sounds in Focus II

Perform Studio 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 

 
5 p.m.

Cyclorama Screening

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 
 

7 p.m. 

Immersive Multisensory Performance: Comprehension of Spaces

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 

 
9 p.m.

Immersive Multisensory Performance: Comprehension of Spaces

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 
 
Saturday, Aug. 10 
1 p.m.

Visual Immersion 101

Perform Studio 

Free; register through the box office. 
 

3 p.m. 

Sounds in Focus III

Perform Studio 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 
 

7 p.m. 

Data Driven

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 
 

9 p.m.

Listening Lounge: Suzanne Ciani LIVE Quadraphonic

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 
 
Sunday, Aug. 11 
3 p.m.

Cube Creations

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 
 

7 p.m.

Sounds in Space

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 

 

9 p.m.

Listening Lounge: The White Album by the Beatles

Cube 

$10 general admission; free for Virginia Tech students (ticket still required). 

Tickets

Tickets can be purchased (or reserved for free events) online; at the Moss Arts Center's box office, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; or by calling 540-231-5300 during box office hours. 

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 kacy@vt.edu during regular business hours. 

Share this story