#HTEPrince’s Complicated Relationship with Technology and a Rube Goldberg Machine That Models the Workings of Our Economy
Core77’s editors spend time combing through the news so you don’t have to. Here’s a weekly roundup of our favorite stories from the World Wide Web.
Prince’s Complicated Relationship with Technology
Prince felt a self-inflicted responsibility to protect his own creative capital for himself and the sake of all artists, and did so by dealing with his personal identity as well as music distribution in rebellious and unprecedented ways. All of these traits not only speak to his iconoclastic musical genius, but also his ability to act as “something of a hacker, upending the systems that predated him and fighting mightily to pioneer new ones…at his best Prince was technology, a musician who realized that making music was not his only responsibility, that his innovation had to extend to representation, distribution, transmission and pure system invention.”
—Allison Fonder, community manager
Congratulations! You’ve Been Fired
From cringe-worthy goodbye parties to underage, inexperienced bosses, Dan Lyons cites some unsavory shifts in how tech companies value their employees in this New York Times opinion piece. (All, of course in anticipation of the former Newsweek journalist’s memoir, released earlier this month.) The final takeaway? “Given the choice, I think I’d rather make furniture.”
—Carly Ayres, columnist, In the Details
Superstudio’s Radical Architecture
Last week’s T Magazine paid homage to Superstudio, the radical 1960’s architecture and design collective at the forefront of Italy’s “Anti-Design” movement. Lovers of dystopian mega-structures and gridded forms will definitely want to check out the slideshow, and for those wanting more, a retrospective of their work opened yesterday at Rome’s MAXXI Museum.
—Rebecca Veit, columnist, Designing Women
The Rube Goldberg Machine That Mastered Keynesian Economics
“It solves the equations of Keynesian macro economics using water flowing through pipes and buckets,” said McRobie. “It’s not a metaphor. There are lots of metaphors about water and money. You’ve got income streams and cash flows and liquidity and siphoning off, and things like that. This is an analogy, an analog, an analog computer. ”
—Eric Ludlum, editorial director
Inside the House of Enigmatic Architect Ricardo Bofill
Better known for his epic housing projects, the Spanish architect’s most personal work is the conversion of a brutalist former cement factory on the outskirts of Barcelona into what is now his house. Beyond the stunning imagery in this short film by Alberto Moya is Bofill’s moving, poetic narration and plea for experimental living: “This is a place where the traditional cannot be conceived,” he says. “It is organized by mental activities and psychological activities rather than the functions of a typical household. It creates an appropriate environment for different moods.”
—Alexandra Alexa, editorial assistant
A Business Primer in Sustainability
The eponymous fashion line Eileen Fisher has long been a leader in sustainability—both in their manufacturing practices and business operations. This article shows the major impact of shifting business models from “doing less bad” to working iteratively, however imperfectly, towards a comprehensive plan to holistically address the environmental and social effects of their business.
—Linyee Yuan, managing editor
Peter Zimmermann Floods Freiburg Museum With Glossy Pools of Resin
If you were drawn to the aquatic resin tables we’ve covered, Peter Zimmermann’s new installation might make you want to dive through your screen. The artist layered the floor of a Freiburg museum in 1,400 square feet of liquid-looking color and the result is breathtaking.
—Kat Bauman, contributing writer