Cube Exhibition May Come to Korea

Erno Rubik
Cube Inventor

By Bryan Kay
Staff Reporter

An exhibition on the Rubik's Cube and the impact it had on the world could come to Korea as part of a potential world tour, the inventor of the famous mind puzzler said Thursday.

Hungarian Erno Rubik, who is in Korea at the invitation of the Korea Foundation, spoke to The Korea Times after a luncheon hosted by the foundation at a restaurant in Samcheonggak.

``I'm preparing an exhibition about the cube and the impact of the cube on the world,'' he said. ``And there's a possibility it could come to Korea.''

It was 30 years ago that Rubik turned a puzzle he had been tinkering with into the reputed ``must-have brain twister toy.''

And he said the invention may never have come about if he had not been so interested in 3D design.

``I didn't plan the invention. But when I had invented it, because it was so simple it could be successful,'' Rubik explained.

``I was very impressed with the demonstration I received from the second ranking Rubik's Cube champion in Korea, who did it in 12 seconds. Just achieving it is more important than the speed with which they can do it.

``I don't think I'll ever be able to invent anything as good as that again. Because the design is so simple, you can't make anything as simple as that in its category.''

Rubik, who arrived here Tuesday for his first visit to Korea, will also give a talk to university students about architecture, his main profession, and receive a history tour of Korea as part of the trip.

``Architecture should be a part of nature,'' he added. ``In Seoul, I have seen a lot of contradiction between architecture and nature.''

He will be appointed as an honorary professor of Keimyung University at a ceremony Friday at the school based in Daegu. The school said he will lecture on architecture to students after the citation award ceremony.

As an honorary professor, he will advise on the school's plan to establish an architect college next year at the university's campus. He will also hold special lectures at the school in the future.

Meanwhile, with the Korea Communications Commission, the country's telecommunications regulator, having now approved the sale of Apple's iPhone here, the famous Rubik's Cube toy is now available in an electronic format called Rubik's TouchCube. With a simple sweep of the finger across the surface of an iPhone, players can attempt to solve the puzzle digitally.

jrbreen@koreatimes.co.kr

JR Breen contributed reporting to this article

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