artist max mulhern leaves floating dice to chance

max mulhern launches two brightly colored die out to sea in honor of good luck for his project aqua-dice

dice – they are considered one of the most compelling symbols of dumb luck, and american artist max mulhern decided to explore this with his project ‘aqua dice‘ –the ‘greatest floating craps game on earth’. two large, brightly colored die have been launched in international waters to create a visual ode to chance and good luck. each die was specially created by by a french naval architect –  composed of 8 watertight compartments each of which inhabits a corner of the die, these areas are held together by 6 panels – one of which is positioned on a face of each die. the cubes are specifically designed to be unsteady and will travel and tumble in response to the current.

the blocks are fabricated by a shipbuilder skilled in fishing boats – each one composed of plywood, pine, PVC and epoxy. in late 2012, mulhern had them shipped from brittany to the canary islands, and, at noon on the fortuitous date of 12/12/12, he set them afloat into the atlantic, and has left them to chance. to keep track of the artwork, technology students in normandy custom-built his GPS systems which have sent out locations of the die once a day so the progress can be recorded by anybody interested. both dice were about 1,100 miles west of the canary islands and only about 60 miles apart as of the 7th of january, 2012 – scientists predict the two floating objects will separate quickly.

however, the work is illegal because it is forbidden to put leave an object on the water unattended. mulhern notes the high visibility of the die, they’re behaviour to follow the same current as any nearby vessels, and also their collapsible nature on impact render them safe on sea. mulhern anticipates reports of sightings along the atlantic throught the artwork’s travels – and, of course, some help from lady luck.

each die was specially created by by a french naval architect

both dice were about 1,100 miles west of the canary islands and only about 60 miles apart as of the 7th of january, 2012 – scientists predict the two floating objects will separate quickly

the cubes are specifically designed to be unsteady and will travel and tumble in response to the current

 an image from mulhern’s blog showing the progress of the die