Dream Big

In 2009 Pete Fecteau was living in Grand Rapids, Michigan when a local eccentric announced the creation of Artprize, billed as the world's largest art competition. After the 2009 event Fecteau had a dream where he was using Rubik’s Cube to create art. Upon waking up, he began a year long journey to bring his dream into reality.

With the help of many people along the way, Fecteau was able to write a grant, secure a fiduciary and initial funding, obtaining image rights, create a media and PR plan, raise over $4000 in funds through a Kickstarter campaign, find a locale and studio space, and eventually complete the mosaic.

The mosaic was made of 4,242 officially licensed Rubik’s Cubes. It measured 19′ x 8’6″ (5.8m x 2.6m). It weighed roughly 1000 pounds (454kg). The construction process took a little over 40 hours and the final installation took about five and a half hours with 6 volunteers helping.

The mosaic was on display during the 2010 ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan USA from September 22nd to October 10th. There were roughly 30,000 people who came to view the mosaic during that time. “Dream Big” placed in the top 50 out of 1,700+ entries.

The mosaic was left intact for a month after the competition in an attempt to sell it. We were in discussion with a couple potential buyers but no sale was ever finalized and the mosaic was disassembled in late November. The cubes were shipped back to their owner shortly thereafter.

In late 2011, images of Fecteau creating 'Dream Big' went viral online starting on Reddit.com and later featured on other major media outlets including: Make Magazine, Complex, Gizmodo, My Modern Met, Laughing Squid, Juxtapoz, 12oz Prophet, Tumblr, Pinterest, and many more. To-date, the images have been shared over 60 million times.