God of War and the Dignity of the Cube
From Phranque to contemporary art: a cube always leaves the viewer a little puzzled
Welcome back to Artcade, the newsletter that has very little that’s regular about it, even when we talk about cubes, whose whole identity is basically being orderly. Today I have an announcement: Artcade is entering summer mode. I know this is a hard blow to bear, but the thermometer has spoken: summer is here. What a difficult world. New subscribers must be thrilled. To those of you who have just joined this exclusive club, know that after every break, I have always come back. And I might still make the occasional cameo in this scorching heat. See? There is still hope. Enjoy the read!
For a long time, I have been looking for a way to cover current events too. Let’s be clear: this is Artcade, so current events tied to video games and art, but still, until now, I have never managed it. And spoiler: I’m not managing it today either. Because calling this current, calling it news, would be unfair. Three weeks have already passed since the deed was done: Sony presented the new installment in one of its most important series, God of War, and it featured a character who sparked an endless (and 99.99% useless) debate. His name is Phranque, and he is a cube.
At the start of the video shown by Sony, Phranque has a sword stuck into his gelatinous body, but shortly afterward he hands it over to the protagonist. Watching him on screen feels a little strange: the protagonist Laufey and the Mongolian god of war Begtse are fighting, while Phranque the cube moves around them all boing-boing and squish-squish.
Phranque (Frank, to his friends) ends up joining the battle with a very rubbery fighting style.
Will this cube of cosmic jelly win over God of War fans? For now, he has created a great deal of confusion around him. His defenders include Dungeons & Dragons fans, because in the world of D&D, the gelatinous cube is a legendary icon. Others have replied that Phranque, with his rubbery movements, punctures all the macho epicness of the combat. That is the debate, in case you were wondering.
Santa Monica Studio (release date TBA) God of War Laufey [Video game] [Action-adventure] (PlayStation 5) Sony Interactive Entertainment
Some people struggle to take Phranque seriously. But if contemporary art has taught us anything, it is that a simple geometric shape can have infinite meanings (and can carry “symptomatic mystery,” as the famous Italian singer-songwriter Franco Battiato would say). So let’s leave Kratos and Laufey’s divine problems behind for a moment and head to Venice, where the 2026 Venice Biennale (one of the world’s most important international art exhibitions) is underway. How many cubes are there in this edition of the Biennale? I imagine you ask yourselves this all the time and, just for you lucky people, I am here to answer it.
Gala Porras-Kim (2022) The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at the Met 1982–2021 fragment [Dust and residue] Biennale Arte 2026
The first cube I want to show you is a mass of residue collected during the renovation of a wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the section that houses art from Africa, the ancient Americas, and Oceania. During the work, Gala Porras-Kim collected what was left on the floor and made it into a cube that bears witness to the passage of the artworks, the visitors, and the life of the museum. And then there’s you, emptying the vacuum cleaner into the trash.
A long red corridor leads us toward a black cube. Sometimes theatricality is part of the work. With a little apprehension, we approach and discover that the black cube is actually a pedestal, and on top of it sits a small, gleaming cube.
Here is the second cube I want to show you. Made of overlapping layers of minerals (see the work’s nomenclature), it is placed at the center of a room that recalls the nave of a cathedral. Surrounded by red, which adds a small dose of drama to the scene, and set on a black altar, the cube becomes the object of global desire: minerals, minerals, minerals. Extracted from enormous mines that puncture the earth, with plans to go and retrieve them from the Moon too, all these minerals sit at the center of the fierce tensions among global powers that we’re living through now.
Alfredo Jaar (2023, 2024) The End of the World [Manganese, copper, tin, lithium, nickel, rare earths, cobalt, germanium, coltan, and platinum] [4 cm x 4 cm] Biennale Arte 2026
The point is that the cube may leave us puzzled, but it is here to stay. There is nothing more comforting than a cube, even when it goes boing-boing or when it sits in the middle of a room, in a place where it does not belong. Do not underestimate the cube. Ever.
But I don’t want to leave you with something that makes this much sense. A third cube comes to my rescue, and I will say very little about it because its mystery must be preserved. Or maybe because there is nothing sensible to say. Your choice.
Carrie Yamaoka (2025) Black cube [Black shrink wrap and bubble wrap on MDF] Biennale Arte 2026
Information Desk:
And what does the restored Met wing look like now? It certainly looks very clean.
Behind Frank from God of War Laufey there is a very well-known actor: Jack Quaid. He recently appeared in The Boys, among other things. And he did not just lend his voice, he actually performed the part of the cube. If you don’t believe it, I’ll leave you with photographic proof.
My last two coins
What else can I add about the cube? Maybe I should write something that echoes its shape. Maybe I could close with four sentences, like the sides of the square it is made of. But I would never come close to its perfection. Is it a coincidence that the word “cube” has four letters? I don’t think so. Until the next episode, ciao!
The cube has potential :) just look at the companion cube from portal. 😁 Or... if you want to see the Horror side of it, watch the 1997 movie Cube.
Cool article, keep up the good work 👏