Is AI Progress Stuck? | Jennifer Golbeck | TED

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The proudly juttingand sometimes-imperiledterraces above the cataract that gave the world-famous house its name. Ezra Stoller / EstoIn 1995, when Frank Lloyd Wrights Fallingwater was less than 60 years old, a group of engineers traveled to the rural highlands outside Pittsburgh to inspect the houses iconic cantilevered terraces, thrust out over their waterfall in defiance of gravityand, as it turned out, of good sense. Even before construction was completed in 1937, cracks had appeared in the concrete parapets. By the mid-1990s, the balconies had sagged in some places by more than seven inches. You could feel them bounceit was like a diving board, saysLynda Waggoner, who started guiding tours at Fallingwater as a teenager in 1965 and served as the house-museums director from 1996 to 2018. The extravagant gesture that made Fallingwater the most famous modern house in the United States had nearly brought the entire magnificent structure crashing down.Hailed almost immediately as Wrights masterpiece, Fallingwater was also an uncomfortably apt metaphor for a difficult period in the architects career. Wrights earlier houses, with their open floorplans and horizontal thrust, had helped revolutionize early 20th-century architecture. When images of those so-called Prairie Houses traveled to Berlin in 1910, future godfathers of architectural modernism like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius were astounded: Wright had taken the massive structures of the 19th century and exploded them outward, with long, low rooflines that seemed to float free from the walls below. Back in the Midwestern U.S., Wrights caustic approach to clients and his disregard for conventionincluding his choice in 1909 to abandon his family and run off with the wife of a former clientmade him persona non grata among his patrons. Fallingwaters interior offers a startlingly intimate view of surrounding nature, an aesthetic that Wright called organic architecture. Ezra Stoller / EstoSubscribe to Smithsonian magazine now for just $19.99This article is a selection from the December 2024 issue of Smithsonian magazineBy the 1920s, Wrights hipped roofs and elaborate ornamentation had come to seem almost quaint compared with the glossy, streamlined sophistication of European modernism. When the newly founded Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York mounted its landmark 1932 exhibition on modern architecture, the curators relegated Wright to the role of a half-modern precursor to the real revolution, which theyd dubbed the International Style. Wright, hungry for adulation, and desperate for work, was enraged by the slight. I find myself rather a man without a country, architecturally speaking, he complained in a letter to the architect Philip Johnson, a co-curator of the MoMA show. Fallingwater, commissioned in 1934 as a vacation home by department store magnate Edgar Kaufmann Sr., would be Wrights opportunity to beat the internationalists at their own game, as he reportedly said at the time.There in the Appalachian backwoods, Wright took key elements of modernismlike cantilevers, flat roofs and ribbon windowsand made them organic, privileging forms and materials that drew on, and integrated with, the natural world. Rather than leaving the edges of his cantilevered balconies razor-straight and dazzlingly white, he rounded their edges and painted them the color of Pueblo adobe. He clad the walls with local sandstone and fronted the cabinets with lustrous North Carolina walnut. Fallingwater made modernism seem romantic, lyrical and deeply American. As the historian Franklin Toker wrote in his 2003 book Fallingwater Rising, the house changed Americans view of modernism from something foreign and suspect to something homegrown and patriotic.Fallingwater also resurrected Wrights moribund career. Before long, pictures of the home were everywhere, especially the indelible shot taken from the base of the falls, the house soaring over those rushing cataracts. In January 1938 alone, Wright graced the cover of Timewith Fallingwater in the backgroundand Architectural Forum dedicated an entire issue to his work, with the Kaufmann house as his crowning achievement. That month, even MoMA, the site of Wrights 1932 snub, dedicated a show to the Kaufmann house. Wright was undoubtedly the worlds greatest living architect, the critic Lewis Mumford gushed in the New Yorker. He can swing a cantilever across space, using the method of construction not as a clich of modernism but as a rational engineering solution of a real problem. Of course, Mumford had only seen the house in pictures and had no idea that those glorious cantilevers were the real problem. The sagging, cracking parapetsan engineering error on Wrights partnever prevented the Kaufmanns from using the house. They did, however, concern Edgar Kaufmann Sr. enough that he measured them regularly from 1941 until his death in 1955. In any event, cracks and deflections are hardly visible in photos, and Fallingwater, perhaps more than any Wright building, makes for an iconic, unforgettable image, says architecture historian Barry Bergdoll.The engineers who turned up in 1995 did manage to rescue the house from its builders dazzling, flawed vision. But to judge Fallingwater based solely on its engineering is to miss the point. Durability alone would never have satisfied Wrights ambitions, nor would it have won Fallingwater its singular place in American architectural history. In 1963, Edgar Kaufmann Jr., a Wright acolyte, donated the house to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which opened Fallingwater to the public the following year. Over the past six decades, some 6.3 million have visited, mainly laypeople, who tend to love Wright more than architects do. Unlike a lot of modernist buildings, Fallingwater is a visceral and emotional experience more than an intellectual one, Waggoner says. It evokes the American desire to exalt nature and dominate it, to claim modernity and reject it. It is an imperfect house, and a perfect expression of the American landscape it inhabits: fragile and well worth saving.Wright-HandWomanToo often forgotten, Marion Mahony Griffin was an inventive and remarkable architectBy Michael Snyder Marion Mahony Griffins rendering of the front of a stately residence designed in Calcutta by her husband, Walter, circa 1936. Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia UniversityMarion Mahoneygraduated with a bachelors degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1894only the second woman in the schools history to do so. A year later, the Chicago native became Frank Lloyd Wrights first employee at his upstart architecture firm in her hometown. A brilliant graphic artist with a deep interest in Japanese printmaking, Mahony created the signature aesthetic of Wrights perspective drawings, bursting with exquisite detail. She also made the drawings for fully half of the 100 lithographs in the 1910 Wasmuth Portfolio, a compendium of Wrights creations that inspired a generation of European architects, changing the course of 20th-century design. Never quick to cede credit, Wright rarely acknowledged his enormous debt to his brilliant young colleague. The architect pictured circa 1935, just before she left Australia to design buildings for the University of Lucknow in India. National Library of AustraliaIndeed, Mahony took over some projects entirely, as when Wright abandoned his family and practice to move to Europe in 1909, leaving Mahony, along with her colleague Hermann V. von Holst, to complete the designs for several houses in Illinois and Michigan. For the landscape designs of some of those projects, she collaborated closely with a former Wright employee named Walter Burley Griffin. The two married in 1911 and, shortly after, submitted a winning plan for Australias new federal capital city of Canberra. From 1914 to 1936, the Griffins lived and worked in Australia, dedicating much of their time to town planning and an architecture that could capture and cultivate a spirit of democracy. Get the latest Travel & Culture stories in your inbox.Filed Under: Architects, Architecture, Rituals and Traditions

New Exhibition Unravels Sigmund Freuds Complex Relationship With the Women in His Life and WorkWomen & Freud: Patients, Pioneers, Artists spotlights the women who influenced the Austrian neurologistand the field of psychoanalysis more broadly Sigmund Freud in the office of his Vienna home in 1930 Bettmann / ContributorWomen intriguedSigmund Freud, but they also baffled him. As the founder of psychoanalysis once said, The great question that has never been answered, and which I have not yet been able to answer, despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul, is What does a woman want?Freud learned a lot from the women around him, including his patients, his peers and his daughters. Now, 85 years after the Austrian neurologists death, a new exhibition at Londons Freud Museum explores his complicated relationship with women.Women & Freud: Patients, Pioneers, Artists fills the entire museum, which was Freuds last home and workplace. It incorporates historic artifactssuch as manuscripts, letters, photos, objects, diaries and film footageas well as contemporary works by women artists. The exhibition also explores the history of theHogarth Press, which began publishing Freuds work 100 years ago.The neurologist famously developed manycontroversialand often incorrect or misogynistictheories about women during his lifetime. The exhibition aims to present this part of Freuds work in a new light, arguing that it may have inadvertently advanced the feminist revolutions that came later.Did the talking cure give women the power to speak in their own voice? writes the museum on the exhibition website. Did Freud raise womens private, secret thoughts and emotions into a public (and scientific) discourse so that they could consider their own sexuality openly, even if in argument with him? Where does sexual difference elide into gendered expectations or prohibitions? These are some of the questions the exhibition raises through its women.The show is the first to celebrate the women in Freuds world, according to the Art Newspapers Maev Kennedy. Many of his patients went on to become successful psychoanalysts themselves. The exhibition explores womens professional contributions not just to the fields of child psychology and child development, but to the very tenets of psychoanalysis, Michael Marder, the author of a forthcoming book on Freud, tells the Observers Vanessa Thorpe.An entire room of the museum is dedicated to Anna Freud, Freuds youngest daughter, who went on to become a pioneering psychoanalyst in her own right. The exhibition also celebratesMelanie Klein,Juliet Mitchell,Julia Kristeva,Helene Deutsch and Marie Bonaparte.Bonaparte was Napoleons great-grandniece, and she helped Freud, who was Jewish, escape the Nazis in 1938. Despite the outsized role the last Bonaparte played in the history of psychoanalysis, too few are aware of her significant contributions, according to themuseum.The artworks featured in the exhibition include spreads from Alison Bechdels graphic memoirAre You My Mother? andPaula Regos cloth dollies. Also on view is Sarah Lucas SEX BOMB, a concrete and bronze sculpture of a stiletto-clad figure slumped over in a chair.The exhibitions effort to recast the story of Freuds relationship to women in a positive lightindeed the relation of psychoanalysis to femininityis laudable, writesSimon Wortham, a scholar of literature and philosophy at Kingston University in London, in theConversation. However, it is left to art to retell this tale through more disturbing interventions.Women & Freud: Patients, Pioneers, Artists is on view at the Freud Museum in London through May 5, 2025.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Sarah Kuta| READ MORESarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.Filed Under: Art, Arts, European History, Exhibitions, Exhibits, London, Museums, Psychology, Women's History

The team used A.I. algorithms to combine more than 400,000 photos into a comprehensive, three-dimensional model of the Catholic church. MicrosoftPeople around the world can now explore St. Peters Basilica from the comfort of home via a 3D replica powered by artificial intelligence.Released earlier this month, the virtual experience is the product of a collaboration between the Vatican and Microsoft, which cataloged every nook and cranny of the basilica, including parts that the public rarely sees, such as the papal tombs and artwork in the churchs dome.Online users can skip the long wait to enter the physical basilica in Vatican City, instead taking guided tours on the life of St. Peter and the basilicas history or virtually wandering around to whatever area of the site catches their eye.The world's first 3D replica of St. Peter's Basilica, made with Microsoft AIWatch on Per a statement, experts at Iconem, a cultural heritage digitization start-up, spent three weeks using drones, cameras and lasers to capture more than 400,000 photographs of the basilica. The amount of photogrammetry data collected amounts to nearly 22 petabytesthe equivalent of filling up five million DVDs, Microsoft President Brad Smith tells the Associated Press Nicole Winfield.After collecting the images, the team utilized A.I. algorithms to combine the photos into a comprehensive, three-dimensional model of the church. As the statement notes, tools developed by Microsofts A.I. for Good Lab refined the digital twin with millimeter-level accuracy, in addition to identifying deterioration and damage caused by high traffic and centuries of general wear and tear. The lab previously drew on similar technology to virtually transport visitors back in time to the site of the first Olympic Games, ancient Olympia, more than 2,000 years ago.This is an opportunity to use the power of artificial intelligence to see this basilica in a way that perhaps no previous generation has seen before, says Smith in a statement quoted by Artnet News Richard Whiddington. A glimpse into the digitization process MicrosoftConstruction of St. Peters Basilica began in 1506 under Pope Julius II and wrapped up 109 years later, under Paul V in 1615. The basilica is home to many artifacts of the Catholic Church, including the tombs of dozens of popes. The new digitization debuted ahead of the Vaticans 2025 Jubilee, a special celebration of forgiveness and reconciliation that is expected to bring around 30 million people to Rome next year.As Forbes Leslie Katz reports, Pope Francis, the current head of the Catholic Church, encouraged the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the organization that maintains the historic building, to use the latest technologies to care for the basilica both spiritually and materially.Francis has been a vocal proponent of ethical A.I., calling for an open dialogue on the subject in an August 2023 address.The urgent need to orient the concept and use of artificial intelligence in a responsible way, so that it may be at the service of humanity and the protection of our common home, requires that ethical reflection be extended to the sphere of education and law, the pope said.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Architecture, Artificial Intelligence, Christianity, Digitization, Italy, Italy Travel, Religion, Religious History

Image credits:@thetint_org (Sieradz, Poland)@nagstudios (Laramie, United States)@saltvision_bv (Waregem, Belgium)@golden.vis.st (Warsaw, Poland)@romain.brunas (Thonon-les-Bains, France)@santo_logozzo (Milan, Italy)@brickvisual (Budapest, Hungary)www.cgarchitect.com/members/bryanfan (Beijing, China)www.cgarchitect.com/members/a-miro-1993www.cgarchitect.com/companies/f757c7ba-nhimages (Strasbourg, France)Best of the Week Nov 10, 2024Looking for inspiration? Check out the TOP 10 best images posted last week on cgarchitect.com!See more on our board www.cgarchitect.com/boards/58cf92c0-best-of-the-week-nov-10-2024#top10 #vizprooftheweek #architecture #cgarchitect #archviz #visualization #architecturevisualization #3d #rendering #cgi #cgavizpro #render #vray #coronarender #unrealengine #vantage #3dsmax #revit #cg #3dbuilding #3drender #3darchitecture #3drender #3drendering #3dinterior #3dinteriordesign

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Game District acquires majority stake in Gleam GamesCompany says decision "reflects its commitment to strengthening Trkiye's position as a regional innovation hub"Image credit: Gleam Games News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Nov. 19, 2024 Game District has acquired a majority stake in Gleam Games.Game District says the stake in Gleam "reflects its commitment to expanding into key international markets and strengthening Trkiye's position as a regional innovation hub."As a result of the stake, Gleam - a "fast-growing mobile gaming startup" in Trkiye - will see its CEO Eser Yoğurtcu assume the role of chief strategy officer at Game District."This acquisition is a major step toward our mission of becoming a global mobile gaming powerhouse. By joining forces with Gleam Games, we aim to lead on both innovation and creativity in our industry, leveraging our collective expertise to set new standards in gaming," said Saad Hameed, Game District's CEO."Gleam Games' technological edge in AI and data-driven game development would enrich us to offer more dynamic, immersive experiences for players."Gleam Games said Trkiye has emerged as a vibrant gaming landscape, "capturing substantial investor interest and producing globally popular games" and has "grown remarkably" in recent years.