↓ Five decades, half a century is a long time, and in the fifty years of the Cube, a lot has changed, both on an individual and societal level. ↓ We entered the twenty-first century and faced the contradictions of the accelerating scientific and technological development and the consumer society, such as waste and resource limitations, the consequences of climate change; the opportunities and risks of artificial intelligence and the list just goes on. ↓ In 1974, the prototype of the Cube was born. Distribution started in Hungary from 1977, and gradually throughout the world from 1980. Approximately 500m Cubes were sold to date, and this could mean at least two billion people who played with it. ↓ The real big question is Why? How did all this happen? Answering it is much harder than solving the puzzle itself. ↓ We can find the secret to the success of the Cube within ourselves: we love it for what it is, infinitely simple and complex, static and dynamic all at the same time, with its random but also rule-following dance of colors. →The Cube’s place is on the edge between Design and Fine Arts, it belongs to either or both, or it just has created an independent category that cannot quite be classified. ↓ Let us celebrate that we are able to find beauty, joy and learning in this small object, regardless of age, language or cultural background, an opportunity to get to know ourselves and each other… *Excerpt from the foreword. Our Cube - 50 Years of the Rubik’s Cube. Jubilee Numbered Edition by Ernő Rubik. Open Books, 2024.