“Digital Cubes”, by Simon Schiessel, is a “dominoes” game played with electronic cubes. Placed next to one another, the cubes continually exchange information in form of light patterns.

Each of these autonomous mini-computers contains a microprocessor, a display, and infrared interfaces on each of its four vertical sides.

One source alone generates uninterpretable information and it is only when two cubes are combined that the visual static sharpens into a decoded pattern and words become legible.

Each cube accommodates four terms, one per contact surface. Depending upon which vertical surfaces touch, their orientation, and the number of connected cubes, combinations of the following word groups scroll across the displays “marquee” style: “evil, good, smart, dumb; happy, sad, bored, excited; big, small, plenty, nothing; now, never, yesterday, tomorrow.”

See also the fascinating Block Jam musical interface that Henry Newton-Dunne created for Sony. Each block enables you to modify the “tempo,” “tone,” and “direction” of a sound.