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Incompiuto: an Italian architectural style characterized by “contemporary ruins."
In 2007, members of the artist collective Alterazioni Video began to notice an interesting trend in Sicilian architecture: abandoned, unfinished public buildings dotting the landscape with "contemporary ruins.” Now, the nonprofit Incompiuto Siciliano aims to publish a book that offers “a new perspective for looking at these forgotten buildings — ones that don’t fall into ruin after they are built, but rise into ruin before they are built." Learn more here.
Designer Kawther Alsaffar collaborated with craftspeople in Kuwait to create these sand-cast, one-of-a-kind bowls that fuse two different metals into beautifully unexpected combinations of brass, copper, and nickel.
Beyond creating striking objects, she hopes the project will highlight and support the work of craftspeople and designers in Kuwait. Learn more and support the project here.
Happening: Good Tape
Welcome to Happening, where we feature a list of our favorite Kickstarter projects (and more) every week. Want to get it straight to your inbox? Sign up here.
Today’s Happening is brought to you by PRX’s Radiotopia, a podcast network launched in 2014 with the help of 21,808 backers on Kickstarter. Since then, it’s grown into a home for “extraordinary, sound-rich, cutting-edge” podcasts like 99% Invisible, Song Exploder, Criminal, and more. Read on for pro podcasting tips, mind-expanding recommendations, and some audio magic.
Seven projects the Radiotopia team loves
An improv game for Humans Being
The 2017 Afro-Latino Festival NYC
An art book of mechanical space exploration
Podcast recommendations
Recommended by The Heart:
• Here Be Monsters, “Lying in a Stranger’s Grave”
• Radiolab, “Colors”
Recommended by Millennial:
• The Truth, “That’s Democracy”
Recommended by The Bugle:
• The Game and The Football Ramble
Recommended by Criminal:
• The Heart
Recommended by The Memory Palace:
• Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything, “Not Soon Enough”
Advice for starting your own podcast
Courtesy of Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer of Radiotopia from PRX.
- Come to terms with your ambitions and goals for the show. Who is this for? Is this a hobby or art project or a career move?
- Identify a subject that will sustain ongoing exploration and is best conveyed through the audio format. Bring an original voice and perspective to this subject.
- Be professional, or at least intentional, in execution — including recordings, editing, and design. Think about how your show looks, feels, and sounds. Think about structure, frequency, and duration. Think about promotion, social channels, and how to engage with your audience regularly. Think about workflow, and gathering a team around you.
- Listen critically to the the podcasts you already listen to, and identify strengths and weaknesses to guide your own efforts.
Etc.
“Every day is like a new event. The sky is everything.” —Robert Irwin
In 1999, renowned installation artist Robert Irwin was invited by the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, to create a large-scale project for the site of an abandoned army hospital. After 17 years of careful planning, and with support from the Kickstarter community, Irwin and the Chinati Foundation realized his first and only permanent architectural work.
The structure fuses indoor and outdoor space, creating a contemplative environment where visitors can fully experience the artist’s intention “to make you a little more aware than you were the day before of how beautiful the world is.”
Learn more about this project — and other works of art brought to life on Kickstarter — at kickstarter.art.
Robert Irwin, untitled (dawn to dusk), 2016. Photos by Alex Marks. Courtesy of the Chinati Foundation and Robert Irwin.
Happening: Calling all makers
Welcome to Happening, where we feature a list of our favorite Kickstarter projects every week. Want to get it straight to your inbox? SIGN UP HERE.
Makers, inventors, and tinkerers, take note: Kickstarter’s Design & Tech team is on the hunt for new, future-shaping projects — specifically creative tools, boundary-pushing inventions, and delightful designs.
They might just want to talk to you about your new idea — read on.
Ten enchanting projects
1920s-inspired unisex swimsuits
This monster really wants to be famous
“Post-noise meditations for a loud world”
A touch of the South Pole in your living room
Handcrafted skis made from repurposed trees
Thirty prompts to get your creative synapses firing
Display your enamel pin collection sans jean jacket
Brew expert-level java with this at-home pour-over dripper
#Kickstarted
Listen to TLC’s new single, “Way Back” (Pitchfork)
Bringing crowdfunded favorites to the New Museum Store (Core77)
Seven Magic Mountains was against the law — so a museum passed a new one (Artsy)
The fourteen Kickstarter-funded films screening at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival (Kickstarter)
Etc.
You’ll never look at sausage the same way again.
A molecular chef, a master butcher, and a designer have teamed up for a visual exploration of how the sausage gets made (literally) and what the future holds for one of the world’s oldest created foodstuffs. The creators hope their book will inspire a more meatless future.
Learn more and see their wild, meat-free experiments — think insect salami and vegetable mortadella — right here.
Happening: Changing the face of STEM
Welcome to Happening, where we feature a list of our favorite Kickstarter projects every week. Want to get it straight to your inbox? SIGN UP HERE.
Today’s Happening is brought to you by Sasha Ariel Alston, an author, student, and activist who works to expand access to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education for young women. Earlier this year, she raised $17,602 with the help of 529 backers on Kickstarter to publish her STEM-focused children’s book, Sasha Tech Savvy Loves to Code.
You wrote your book to “encourage and empower girls, especially girls of color, to learn how to code.” Do you have any guidance for young women who are starting out in the tech world?
If you are interested in STEM, you have to be very disciplined and determined. It requires a lot of focus, studying, and practice. Being clear on your mission and how you will use the skills [you learn] is key. Combining STEM with social justice is what keeps me motivated — I literally want to change the face of STEM.
You’re currently studying at PACE University’s Lubin School of Business and have done internships at Microsoft and the U.S. Department of Commerce. What has helped you along your professional journey?
One of my favorite books is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill — [it taught me that] what you believe about yourself sets the stage for everything you do.
Sasha’s picks: five online resources for young coders
Five fantastic projects
Organic chocolate made in Ghana
An inclusive, intersectional bookstore in D.C.
A children’s picture book that instills empathy, kindness, and respect
Three things to read
A look at the books students read around the world (TED Ideas)
How seven tech leaders are tackling diversity in 2017 (Fast Company)
This conference encourages women of color to pursue STEM careers (The State Press)
“There’s always a week or two, or even a full month, where I’m convinced I’ll never write again, that everything was a fluke before.”
In a conversation with The Creative Independent, musician Mike Hadreas, a.k.a. Perfume Genius, discusses the pros and cons of having a creative partnership with your significant other, how he’s learned to overcome creative blocks, and the need to be true to himself in his music. Read the interview.
Created in collaboration with local teenagers, the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s No Small Plans is graphic novel that aims to encourage Chicago’s youth to design the cities they want, need, and deserve.
Learn more about this civic-minded project here.
From Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog to the magical creatures of The Dark Crystal, entire generations have grown up with Jim Henson’s colorful characters. Now, you’ll be able to explore Henson’s incredible imaginary worlds through puppet prototypes, character sketches, rare behind-the-scenes footage, and more in a new permanent installation at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York.
Learn how you can be a part of bringing it to life here.
Happening: Satellite of Love
Welcome to Happening, where we feature a list of our favorite Kickstarter projects every week. Want to get it straight to your inbox? SIGN UP HERE.
Good news, people of Earth: the return of Mystery Science Theater 3000 is finally upon us. On Friday, April 14 — almost thirty years since its debut — Netflix will release fourteen new episodes of the series revival, in which comedian Jonah Ray survives screenings of wonderfully awful B movies with the help of his sarcastic robot friends, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot.
Learn how the cult series got a second life with the help of 48,000 Kickstarter backers here.
Ten projects we love
Ceramics dripping with candy-colored glaze
Queer-centric comics based on the Major Arcana
Pixel art jumps off the screen and into your hands
Play an aspiring novelist in this literary tabletop game
Treat your feet to a pair of custom 3D-printed flip-flops
A retro synthpop tribute to the Commodore 64 SID chip
Revive a cult classic that defied the conventions of anime
If your zodiac sign were an ice cream flavor, what would it be?
This no-nonsense bench is “there when you need it, away when you don't”
An educational comic book guide to journalism for aspiring student reporters
Creative spotlight: Guanajuato International Film Festival
Kickstarter has teamed up with the Guanajuato International Film Festival to highlight a new generation of emerging Latin American filmmakers. Explore their projects here.
Links we like
A brief history of robots in literature (Lit Hub)
How 3D knitting is shaping the future of fashion (Quartz)
A new box set of 7-inches for Planned Parenthood (The Creative Independent)
Etc.
Yellowstone, underwaterWelcome to Happening, where we feature a list of our favorite Kickstarter projects every week. Want to get it straight to your inbox? SIGN UP HERE.
The Anka Cooperative trains and fairly employs Syrian women living in refugee camps in the art of carpet-weaving and other handcrafts. Currently, they’re working with 250 women living in two camps — back their project to own a hand-woven carpet, coaster, or fabric swatch, and help them achieve their goal of creating work opportunities for 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020.
@brianginiewski makes delightfully drippy ceramic pieces in cheerful pastel hues, sure to brighten even the dreariest of days. Support him in growing his year-old ceramics business into a new studio, and snag one (or a set of five!) for yourself. See more here.
Happening: The Crowdsourceress
Welcome to Happening, where we feature a list of our favorite Kickstarter projects every week. Want to get it straight to your inbox? SIGN UP HERE.
Today’s Happening is brought to you by crowdfunding expert Alex Daly, founder of Vann Alexandra and author of The Crowdsourceress. As an advisor to Kickstarter creators, Daly has helped projects like Neil Young’s Pono Music Player, Griffin Dunne’s Joan Didion documentary, and TLC’s final album succeed. Here, she shares a bit about carving out her unique career in crowdfunding.
You recently talked to Fast Company about creating your own dream job. What’s your advice for someone who wants to create a career that doesn’t yet exist?
Find what you are really good at — as unexpected as it may be — and stick with it. Through my journey as a founder, I have learned how important it is to remind yourself that you are doing great work, and that you are valuable. It’s common to see women questioning whether they’re good enough or if they are worthy –– it’s not easy, but trying to work through that with a lot of personal reinforcement is key.
Before becoming a crowdfunding expert, you worked in a few different fields, including magazines and documentary film. Which of your many roles had the biggest influence on your current one?
My time as a fact-checker at The Wall Street Journal and New York magazines proved to be incredibly helpful. It taught me to really pay attention to detail and demand perfection.
What’s been the most surprising campaign you’ve worked on so far?
The NYCTA Graphics Standards Manual. The internet blew it up. Because of that campaign, we started working with more design-focused projects. It also ignited an interesting trend in reissuing these manuals, and led to a business: the creators behind it, Hamish and Jesse, ended up starting a publishing company.
What is the first question you ask any creator you’re working with?
If their project has a built-in audience –– the “crowd” in crowdfunding. These are the people who make your project a success; they will help you launch your project into the world and spread the word with you.
What’s the one quality you think all successful creators have in common?
Perseverance. It’s more than just having a good idea –– it’s the willingness to work really hard to turn that idea into something real.
Six special projects
W. A. Dwiggins’ life in design
Transforming pixels into pen and ink
A graphic novel adventure through Chicago
Providing fair employment opportunities for Syrian women living in refugee camps
Three things to read
The United States before the EPA (Fortune)
Eight remote works of art to track down (WIRED)
What I learned designing a logo for Hillary Clinton (Design Observer)
Etc.
Slow TV and power grids