Lena Dunham–following the success of her 2012 comedy-drama series Girls–is my Roman Empire. Everyone knows the story: the published essays dissecting the sudden end of her long-term relationship with producer Jack Antonoff; the widespread criticisms of Girls for its lack of diversity; the poorly received comments about abortion. We witnessed the public turn on Dunham, branding her one of the most controversial writers of her time. But what was she feeling during that wave of backlash?  On July 10, Dunham and her husband, Luis Felber, will offer a loose interpretation of what life was like when they first met in 2021. If it’s anything like her past work, the series will be packed with comedy, emotional honesty and sharp introspection. As Dunham put it in a Variety interview about meeting Felber: “When I met my husband, I was dazzled by just how much baggage two people could bring to the table.” The highly anticipated series, Too Much, co-written by Dunham and Felber, premieres on Netflix on July 10.  “Co-created by Dunham and Luis Ferber, Too Much centers on Jessica (Meg Stalter) a New York workaholic in her mid-thirties, reeling from a broken relationship that she thought would last forever and slowly isolating everyone she knows. When every block in New York tells a story of her own bad behaviour, the only solution is to take a job in London, where she plans to live a life of solitude like a Bronte sister. But when she meets Felix (Will Sharpe) – a walking series of red flags – she finds that their unusual connection is impossible to ignore, even as it creates more problems than it solves. Now they have to ask themselves: do Americans and Brits actually speak the same language?” Read more at Deadline A period romance about two young artists that fall in love in Paris just before becoming recognized as cultural icons– yes, please; plus, the Bill Pohlad directed project, Miles and Juliette, will be produced by none other than Mick Jagger– double yes!  Just in time for the recent wave of buzz surrounding new movies during the Cannes Film Festival, Damson Idris, who is currently filming opposite Brad Pitt in Paramount’s upcoming fantasy film Children of Blood and Bone, has been set to play Miles Davis, alongside Anamaria Vartolomei as Juliette Gréco in Pohlad’s latest project.  “According to the project’s description, Miles & Juliette follows ‘22-year-old Miles Davis (Idris) on a transformative trip to Paris in 1949, where he falls into a passionate romance with Juliette Gréco (Vartolomei), the French singer, actress, and Left Bank icon. What begins as an intimate affair blossoms into a profound connection between two young artists — just before they became cultural legends.’” Read more at The Hollywood Reporter On Sunday, Sony Pictures Television was able to secure global distribution rights to Jennifer Ames and Steve Turner’s relationship comedy series, The Miniature Wife.  The series features a star-studded cast of regulars and recurring characters, with Elizabeth Banks and Emmy-winner Matthew Macfadyen in the leading roles. You’re probably thinking: What do Ames and Turner mean by the miniature wife? The Media Res produced comedy series is actually based off of author Manuel Gonzalez’s short story of the same name about a man who accidentally shrinks his wife.  Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! “The relationship comedy series explores the shifting power dynamics between spouses as a technological mishap triggers the ultimate marital crisis, pitting them against each other in a battle for dominance. It will air on Peacock in the U.S.”  Read more at Variety Tuesday marked the start of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Long-awaited projects from Wes Anderson and Ari Aster are set to premiere as well as six female directed films in the Official Competition.  Last year, Sean Baker snagged the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm), which is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition, for Anora– which later won the Academy Award for Best Picture on March 2. Who will win this year’s Palm d’Or, and will the films featured at Cannes be an early indicator for the 2026 awards season like last year? We’ll have to see, but for now, even if you can’t attend the festival, keep a close eye on the daily happenings in Cannes over the next two weeks.  “Pundits complained last year’s Cannes was a light affair, but that had to do with the bottleneck created by the strikes, for one. Many auteurs return to the Croisette this year to make for a highly anticipated festival.” Read more at IndieWire The film that I’m the most excited to hear about following its premiere at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival is by far Ethan Coen’s upcoming dark comedy, Honey Don’t! The film follows Margaret Qualley as Honey O’Donahue, a small-town private investigator, who looks into strange deaths tied to a mysterious church. Who’s the priest of that deadly church? Captain America, of course!  Though it’s not in competition, the film will premiere in Cannes on the final day of the festival, as part of the midnight screenings. Though I’ll have to wait until Aug. 22 to see the dark comedy in theaters, I have a feeling there will be a lot of buzz surrounding the film following its premiere.  “Once again starring Margaret Qualley, this time as a lesbian private investigator on the trail of a cultist played by former Captain America Chris Evans, Ethan Coen’s latest, co-written alongside longtime collaborator and wife Tricia Cooke, looks to be a dark comedy through and through, firmly of a piece with Drive-Away Dolls.”  Read more at Empire Watch the trailer of HONEY, DON’T! below:

Republicans in Congress have been making behind-the-scenes efforts to pass major domestic legislation via the federal budget process. They include potential cuts to Medicaid and extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts. But even though it’s Congress’ job to pass a budget and set tax policy, most media outlets have been content to frame key elements of the legislation as being driven not by Congress, but by the president. So the news media say that the purpose of the bill is to “deliver Trump’s agenda” or to pass the “Trump tax cuts.” Many have even adopted President Donald Trump’s trademark name for the legislation: his “big, beautiful bill.” Along with Casey Burgat and SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor, I am co-author of a textbook titled Congress Explained: Representation and Lawmaking in the First Branch. In that book, it was important to us to highlight Congress’ clear role as the preeminent lawmaking body in the federal government. But since Trump’s inauguration, Congress has ceded huge swaths of its policymaking responsibility to the president. That makes the media’s focus on Trump unsurprising. And there’s no denying that Trump has had enormous impact during his first 100 days in office. During that time, Congress has been unwilling to assert itself as an equal branch of government. Beyond policymaking, Congress has been content to hand over many of its core constitutional powers to the executive branch. As a Congress expert who loves the institution and profoundly respects its constitutionally mandated role, this renunciation of responsibility has been difficult to watch. And yet, Congress’ path to irrelevance as a body of government did not begin in January 2025. It is the result of decades of erosion that created a political culture in which Congress, the first branch of government listed in the Constitution, is relegated to second-class status. The Constitution puts Congress first The 18th-century framers of the Constitution viewed Congress as the foundation of republican governance, deliberately placing it first in Article 1 to underscore its primacy. Congress was assigned the pivotal tasks of lawmaking and budgeting because controlling government finances was seen as essential to limiting executive power and preventing abuses that the framers associated with monarchy. Alternatively, a weak legislature and an imperial executive were precisely what many of the founders feared. With legislative authority in the hands of Congress, power would at least be decentralized among a wide variety of elected leaders from different parts of the country, each of whom would jealously guard their own local interests. But Trump’s first 100 days turned the founders’ original vision on its head, leaving the “first branch” to play second fiddle. Like most recent presidents, Trump came in with his party in control of the presidency, the House, and the Senate. Yet despite the lawmaking power that this governing trifecta can bring, the Republican majorities in Congress have mostly been irrelevant to Trump’s agenda. Instead, Congress has relied on Trump and the executive branch to make changes to federal policy and in many cases to reshape the federal government completely. Trump has signed more than 140 executive orders, a pace faster than any president since Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Republican Congress has shown little interest in pushing back on any of them. Trump has also aggressively reorganized, defunded, or simply deleted entire agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. These actions have been carried out even though Congress has a clear constitutional authority over the executive branch’s budget. Again, Congress has shown little to no interest in reasserting its power, even during recent budget talks. Many causes, no easy solutions Even so, Congress’ weakening did not begin with Trump. There’s no one culprit but instead a collection of factors that have provided the ineffectual Congress of today. One overriding factor is a process that has unfolded over the past 50 or more years called political nationalization. American politics have become increasingly centered on national issues, parties, and figures rather than more local concerns or individuals. This shift has elevated the importance of the president as the symbolic and practical leader of a national party agenda. Simultaneously, it weakens the role of individual members of Congress, who are now more likely to toe the party line than represent local interests. As a result, voters focus more on presidential elections and less on congressional ones, granting the president greater influence and diminishing Congress’ independent authority. The more Congress polarizes among its members on a party-line basis, the less the public is likely to trust the legitimacy of their opposition to a president. Instead, congressional pushback—sometimes as extreme as impeachment—can thus be written off not as principled or substantive but as partisan or politically motivated to a greater extent than ever before. Congress has also been complicit in giving away its own power. Especially when dealing with a polarized Congress, presidents increasingly steer the ship in budget negotiations, which can lead to more local priorities—the ones Congress is supposed to represent—being ignored. But rather than Congress staking out positions for itself, as it often did through the turn of the 21st century, political science research has shown that presidential positions on domestic policy increasingly dictate—and polarize—Congress’ own positions on policy that haven’t traditionally been divisive, such as funding support for NASA. Congress’ positions on procedural issues, such as raising the debt ceiling or eliminating the filibuster, also increasingly depend not on bedrock principles but on who occupies the White House. In the realm of foreign policy, Congress has all but abandoned its constitutional power to declare war, settling instead for “authorizations” of military force that the president wants to assert. These give the commander-in-chief wide latitude over war powers, and both Democratic and Republican presidents have been happy to retain that power. They have used these congressional approvals to engage in extended conflicts such as the Gulf War in the early 1990s and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan a decade later. What’s lost with a weak Congress Americans lose a lot when Congress hands over such drastic power to the executive branch. When individual members of Congress from across the country take a back seat, their districts’ distinctly local problems are less likely to be addressed with the power and resources that Congress can bring to an issue. Important local perspectives on national issues fail to be represented in Congress. Even members of the same political party represent districts with vastly different economies, demographics, and geography. Members are supposed to keep this in mind when legislating on these issues, but presidential control over the process makes that difficult or even impossible. Maybe more importantly, a weak Congress paired with what historian Arthur Schlesinger called the Imperial Presidency is a recipe for an unaccountable president, running wild without the constitutionally provided oversight and checks on power that the founders provided to the people through their representation by the first branch of government. Charlie Hunt is an assistant professor of political science at Boise State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How co-development companies are navigating a turbulent industry in 2025 GamesIndustry.biz catches up with some of the top companies working in the co-dev space to see how they are faring given current industry headwinds Image credit: Bethesda Softworks Feature by Alex Calvin Contributor Published on May 15, 2025 In one form or another, co-development companies have nearly always been around in the games industry. For as long as people have been making games, there have been companies and developers who have made a living helping out other studios with their projects. For the most part, these companies had a low profile, sitting in the shadows of the developers they were working for; but with the growing scale of modern AAA projects, co-development firms are more visible than ever. "There's a growing awareness and desire among studios worldwide to leverage distributed development and external services," says Jake DiGennaro, the chief revenue officer at Virtuos, which, along with Bethesda, co-developed the recently released The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered. "Some reputable studios that have shipped their own IP are even embracing a co-op model, working on original IP development while offering co-development services to others. This approach has long been a tradition in Japan and is now becoming mainstream in North America and Europe." Alejandro Garcia-Tunon, the head of co-dev at Side, adds: "Co-development definitely remains a key part of the game development ecosystem – if anything, more so now than ever before. An increased number of development specialities, as well as scopes that are well beyond what the game industry has seen in the past, have increased costs. "Having a full-time team of experts in each field you'd need to cover just wouldn't make sense, so bringing in an expert is a great way for studios and publishers to tap into that talent without blowing up their budgets." Helping hand The work that co-development companies are being brought in to assist with varies wildly. Sometimes it's individual disciplines (art and animation are the most popular, according to research from the External Development Summit), but for others it is entire segments of a project. "What we are finding is that the balance of the co-development work is changing from coding or feature-focused 'team augmentation' to fully rounded content teams that can take on a whole section of games or even whole games, like we did with the delivery of Lego Horizon Adventures," explains Ashley Liu, the managing director of Keywords Studios' Create arm. Garcia-Tunon adds: "It runs the gamut from individual specialities, like AI, combat, physics, networking, and UI, to taking on entire chunks of a game like a full biome or boss. Sometimes we will cover different aspects even within a single project. Image credit: Konami "When we worked on Silent Hill 2 Remake with Bloober Team, we worked on two boss fights in very different ways. For the fight with Eddie's character, we were creative consultants, advising how we could lift the level from the previous version and make it more of a pivotal moment in the game. With Maria, the final boss fight, Bloober Team already had a vision in mind which we were able to help execute from a technical perspective." Despite co-development companies becoming a bigger part of the industry, the sector isn't immune to the broader economics of the games market. For a variety of reasons, publishers have chosen to be more conservative in funding projects, and fewer games in development means less work for those whose role it is to help out. "Demand grew very strongly over the past decade as games became larger and more complex – developers required additional support," explains Liu. "In the last 18 months, the volume of work reversed due to the overall contraction of the industry, but projects are starting to come back as the industry realises there's been an overcorrection. Players expecting more engaging content will drive some renewed demand." The turbulence in the market, however, does present something of an opportunity for co-development companies. In an uncertain world where publishers are being more risk-averse, partners that provide a great deal of flexibility can be useful. "There are opportunities for co-development, though they may not look like what we've seen in the past," Liu says. "Specifically, as our clients restructure their businesses, there are now more opportunities for partners to fill resource gaps. "There are also opportunities with clients that perhaps would like us to take over their older titles, especially as their best teams move on to new projects." "The headwinds that we face collectively as an industry have reached a breaking point where we can't continue to make games the way we did 20 years ago" Jake DiGennaro, Virtuos Garcia-Tunon adds: "The last couple of years have been an anomaly, no question, but the uncertainty has been really challenging. The co-dev space has historically been growing year over year because the entire industry has been growing – more games equals more people needing help to make games. Our opportunities have come from our ability to quickly adapt to fit client demands." Some co-development companies view themselves as somewhat indispensable. The fact that games now require so many people, so many hours of work, and so many disciplines means that it is tough to make them without external help. "The headwinds that we face collectively as an industry have reached a breaking point where we can't continue to make games the way we did 20 years ago and expect not to run into a wall eventually," DiGennaro believes. "With the rising costs of production, the economics of creating a successful game have become increasingly difficult. "We have to acknowledge the fact that there's something about the way we make games that needs a paradigm shift. While factors like discoverability, delivery, and distribution all play important roles, the process of how we build games is a critical part of the problem," DiGennaro continues. "More than seeing this as an opportunity for co-development companies, I think it's an opportunity to reshape the collective mentality and methodologies of our industry towards increased sustainability and reduced volatility." As always, big games companies are very anxious about their IP and will often go to great lengths to protect it. Before its official reveal, screenshots and marketing materials for The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered were leaked from Virtuos' backend on its Wordpress. "We have very strict processes and information controls at Side that have been honed over decades of work and thousands of games," Garcia-Tunon says. "But our business relies on our reputation – successful projects build great long-term relationships and recommendations from previous partners are worth their weight in gold." Image credit: Keywords Keywords' Liu adds: "Ensuring there are no leaks has always been a challenge in game development, especially for projects that take years to complete with hundreds of people working on it at different times. As with any studio, team composition changes throughout the project lifecycle, making leakages an ongoing area to monitor. "We can leverage experienced global IT and InfoSec departments to protect our client's IP and data. They oversee hundreds of projects, thousands of configurations, and have successfully dealt with a vast number of incidents, allowing us to bring a level of protection surpassing many of our competitors," Liu continues. "In the unlikely event of a data breach, we inform the client first and foremost and together we find a way to resolve the situation. Sometimes, because we are open and honest, the clients trust us more." What comes next Looking to the future, it's clear that co-development isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Modern video games are, by and large, too big and require too much specialist expertise to be made by one company, at least within a reasonable timeframe. Co-dev firms are here to stay. "Fundamentally, I think distributed co-development is how games will be – and should be – built moving forward," DiGennaro says. "It has the potential to make a profound impact in the sustainability of this industry." Liu adds: "Despite the layoffs and project cancellations, this industry will grow. We'll work with partners to release more creative content and better experiences, leveraging new technology to create games and mechanics that have never been seen before. We'll reach new artistic heights that truly engage players." But, as with the rest of the industry, change may be afoot in the near future. New technologies do look like they could have an impact on how games are made. "Workflows are already evolving to include developing technologies like AI," Garcia-Tunon admits. "That said, my outlook is positive – as long as we have humans playing games, we'll need humans to develop and discuss what games should look like."

Rest as an Experience in a Space Rich with Symbolism: Insights from the Argentinian Pavilion at the 2025 Venice BiennaleSave this picture!© Federico CairoliThe proposal by Argentinian architects Marco Zampieron and Juan Manuel Pachué for the Argentinian Pavilion at the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 is clear from the outset: upon entering Siestario, visitors are immersed in a space of dim lighting and evocative sound, and immediately encounter—at the center of the room, stretched across its width, and acting as the undeniable protagonist—a large, inflated pink bag that instinctively invites repose. This is a silobag, an object commonly used in the Argentinian countryside to store grain and a potent symbol of the country’s export-driven economy. In this setting, the silobag becomes more than a spatial intervention; it also introduces a temporal dimension: an invitation to pause and reflect amid the relentless rhythm of the Biennale. Save this picture!Under the motto “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective”, general curator and Italian architect Carlo Ratti invites participants to explore and debate the many meanings of these terms, setting the stage for a critical rethinking of contemporary architecture. Within this framework, both national pavilions and individual projects and installations engage with the tensions and possibilities that emerge between the natural, the artificial, and the collective—each from their own distinct perspective.Save this picture!Marco Zampieron and Juan Manuel Pachué — Rosario-based architects and co-founders of Cooperativa — were selected through a public competition organized by the Argentine Foreign Ministry, in partnership with the Chamber of Urban Developers (CEDU), with their winning project to represent Argentina in this edition of the Biennale. Related Article Bahrain Wins the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale Save this picture!With the support of CEDU and Base Proyectos, ArchDaily was present at the inauguration of the Argentine Pavilion on May 9, at the extraordinary Arsenale in Venice. During the first days of the event, we had the opportunity to speak with the authors of Siestario about their experience participating in the Biennale, the creative process of the project, and other aspects related to their practice and understanding of architecture.Save this picture!AD (Paula Pintos): What was your motivation to participate in the competition to represent Argentina at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025?Marco Zampieron & Juan Manuel Pachué (MZ & JP): As Cooperativa, our group is deeply engaged with competitions. We participate regularly, advocate for them as a valuable tool, and truly enjoy the process they entail. This one, in particular, stood out because, while it’s a national competition, it offers a strong international platform: it’s about representing the country on one of the most important global stages for architecture. Our studio operates as a collaborative collective that expands or contracts depending on the nature of each project. At its core, our practice revolves around competitions. We see them as a way to access commissions without requiring an extensive portfolio, a strong reputation, or an established body of work. That’s why we especially value competitions that are anonymous and transparent — they open the door to meaningful opportunities, such as building a public-scale pavilion with high visibility, through a more horizontal and equitable framework.Save this picture!AD: How does Siestario relate to the theme proposed by the Venice Biennale 2025 — Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective — and what possible interpretations did you envision based on that premise?MZ & JP: These mottos or curatorial texts often tend to be quite ambiguous — and we see that as something positive, because it opens the door to multiple interpretations. With so many people participating in the Biennale through diverse projects, it’s valuable for the thematic framework to be broad: it allows for a wide range of perspectives and approaches. From there, the question of how to represent Argentina naturally arises. Where do you anchor that representation? In our proposal, what comes through is our way of thinking about architecture, our understanding of the Biennale, and our perspective on the collective.Not only were the notions of intelligence, nature, and collectivity present, but there was also something that moved away from the idea of one place, one solution—a concept that truly captivated us. We find the idea of artificial intelligence somewhat challenging... perhaps we’re a bit romantic in that sense; there’s a certain resistance on our part. When we look at some international pavilions, we see a strong emphasis on technology and technical prowess. And while the artificial and the natural are in constant dialogue, what interests us is thinking about the artificial through the lens of local production—through cultural construction. Not as a race toward technological advancement, but as a way of drawing from the depth of knowledge that already exists within our own culture.It is also important that these competitions are resolved quickly, and often one starts from previous ideas or works. In our case, the collective already had a background, a sensitive research on the territory linked to art and certain key elements. This allowed us to connect with the Biennale's themes more deeply in a short time. We see this in other pavilions as well: many have a foundation of prior work and research. In our architecture — and also in art and other disciplines with which we engage — each person brings a background, certain interests, preferences, and tastes. From the place one comes from, what one observes, all of that forms a layer of information from which we project. We try to reflect on this to make it as conscious as possible, so that we can create something that feels close and authentic to us.Save this picture!Representing Argentina also forces us to ask ourselves what we want to say, how we want to speak about who we are. We are interested in a certain metaphor, a certain poetics. We think about the conditions the country is currently going through, both economically and politically, and this image of Argentina resting upon the Argentine countryside emerges, along with the cost of this rest. The proposal of Siestario suggests that the visitor to the Biennale, weary from seeing so much, could climb uphill to a silobag — that iconic symbol of Argentina's agricultural production — and rest, take a nap. But of course, that silobag is the one that stores soybeans, and soybeans, with all their symbolic, productive, and also destructive weight: they contaminate water, devastate forests, and affect local communities. So, Siestario doesn’t just offer a break; it also questions what that rest truly means. There’s a critique, a political stance, a reading on the artificial, on comfort, on the cost of being at ease. All of this emerges when the concepts are linked: the natural, the artificial, the collective. And here, the siesta also appears as a gesture, as a metaphor, as a critique, as a refuge.Save this picture!AD: What motivated you to use the silobag as the central element of the project? How was the process of re-signifying this object within the exhibition context of the Biennale? MZ & JP: The relationship with the silobag is not new to us; in fact, we had already worked with this element in previous projects, documenting and traveling through different towns. This prior research allowed us to see the silobag not just as a functional element, but also as an object loaded with meaning. The process of re-signifying it here at the Biennale involves decontextualizing it. We wanted to change its scale, give it a new role, and use it as a place for a nap, a space for rest. By doing so, the silobag transforms, ceasing to be just an agricultural object and becoming something more playful, connected to the body, fatigue, and the intimacy of the siesta. It’s a simple gesture, but a profound one: it proposes a space for people to recline and feel comfortable in it.Furthermore, the silobag becomes an object that, although it has strong rural and economic connotations, is reinterpreted within the exhibition context, adding a layer of reflection on the everyday and the collective. The intimacy of the siesta becomes social, as the act of resting in a shared space like this creates a collective moment. In the pavilion, we also worked with the atmosphere: the environment is designed to darken, with sounds and lights that induce a sense of relaxation, contributing to creating the right space for that collective rest.Save this picture!AD: What were you hoping to convey through this installation, and how did you expect visitors to experience or interpret the act of "pausing" within the exhibit's journey?MZ & JP: The proposal for this installation revolves around the idea of "stopping." Stopping to think, to look at what you’re doing, to know yourself, to decide. Ultimately, it’s an invitation to stop, to rest, to sleep. We aim for visitors to find that pause within themselves, to disconnect from the fast pace of their surroundings. Furthermore, this act of "pausing" becomes something desirable, almost like an object of desire: the urge to try it, to climb onto the silobag. We wanted to create a physical and experiential experience, not just a contemplative one. Walking through the pavilion becomes an invitation to interact with the space. It even allows walking on the silobag, changing heights, lying down, and resting.We know that at the Biennale, visitors tend to walk a lot and want to see as much as possible. However, this space demands that you stop, that you dedicate time to the experience. It’s not a place to just pass through quickly; it’s a space that asks you to stay for at least 15 or 20 minutes, to climb onto the silobag, to experience the physical effort of doing so, because it’s not a comfortable chair — it’s an experience that requires an investment of time and attention.The curation and design of the rest of the space, along with the projections, are intended so that the installation partially disappears as one moves through it, creating a visual and spatial effect that forces visitors to interact with the place, to stay alert. The project takes a risk; we know that, in the frenetic pace of the Biennale, some may not pay attention to this proposal. But we believe that, to truly enjoy it, it’s necessary to take that time, lie down, listen to the sounds, and be present.Save this picture!AD: How did you approach the relationship between architecture, space, and time within the Argentinian Pavilion?MZ & JP: Our approach has always been to give prominence to the public and collective. In the projects we develop, we try to make the ground floors open and accessible spaces where people can enter spontaneously, without the design being entirely directed toward exclusive use. We are interested in simplicity and clarity, in being radical in the sense of the purity of the idea. This pavilion, for example, uses a single element to express and resolve multiple layers of meaning. The design process seeks to simplify and refine complex ideas, ensuring that the result is direct and clear.In relation to time, we are interested in how architecture, over time, ages and transforms. In Venice, for example, one can see how the city and architecture are not static, how the passage of time causes materials to change, deteriorate, and feel lived in. This concept is present not only in the built architecture but also in the thinking and creation process. For us, time is not just a factor that affects buildings, but a constant in the design process. We value the time spent on physical models, on hand drawing, on processes that endure and allow us to generate something with more depth.Save this picture!Save this picture!AD: There is something disruptive about Siestario: by not displaying so much information or explicit context, the space becomes entirely an experience. What place did you give to the sensory aspect compared to the more direct information exhibition?MZ & JP: This approach is carried over to all our projects, not just the pavilion. We are interested in making spaces sensory experiences, where people not only see but also feel. We seek the space to invite reflection, but also for the enjoyment of the body, for people to engage directly with the environment. In the pavilion, in particular, we wanted the images to function as thresholds, leading you to other places, to the world of the dreamlike. This project, in particular, emphasizes the idea of pause, of stopping to reflect and rest, which connects with our broader vision of how we understand architecture: not just as something built, but as a lived experience.What we aim to create are silent spaces, ones that impose nothing, but at the same time offer power in their simplicity. This is something noticeable in other projects we've done, where the intervention is almost invisible, yet has a significant impact on people's experience, providing a space for them to claim it and inhabit it in their own way.Save this picture!AD: How was the curatorial process in constructing the space through the projections on the sides of the space?MZ & JP:  The curatorial proposal was built with the aim of integrating architecture, art, and landscape, bringing together the different actors. From the outset, we decided to organize the curation of images into three groups: one linked to architecture, another to art, and another to the very recording of the silobag in the field. This division not only provided the visitor with information about the origin and context of the project but also sought to establish a dialogue between architecture and art, something that is fundamental for us. Through the arts, we wanted to tell the story of our landscape and our territory, and we feel that artists have a special sensitivity to read and construct that landscape in a different way.The curatorial line was also guided by an idea that particularly interested us: that from naps emerge dreams, desires, and aspirations of a country. We wanted to propose a positive perspective within a critical reading, showcasing an Argentina that also produces art and architecture. The selected images engage in dialogue with the territory, and they do not respond to a specific temporal cut but rather bring together works from different moments, generating intersections across diverse times. We were interested in showing how these works relate to one another and how, through them, the variable of time appears in architectural production, in the territory, and in the contexts in which these works are being built.Save this picture!Additionally, there was significant archival work: we incorporated original drawings and unpublished material to add historical value. The selection included examples from across the country, even works that are not always associated with formal architecture, such as recreational or leisure spaces. We aimed to represent not only the major cities but also other realities, histories, and geographies. We also included maps and references to historical processes of urbanization and territorial defense, combining them with contemporary works to build the narrative.Save this picture!Save this picture!AD: What does it mean for you to represent Argentina at an event like the Venice Biennale, and how do you experience the responsibility and opportunity that this entails?MZ & JP: Representing Argentina at the Venice Biennale carries significant weight in the national architectural sphere. Winning the competition gave us a certain level of acceptance within the architecture community in Argentina. It’s difficult to fully reflect on the impact of this, as we are still in the process, but we do notice there is recognition. Our motivation was, above all, a genuine interest in participating in the competition, but upon taking on this responsibility, we realized the importance of representing our country at such a prominent event. For our careers, our studio, and our aspirations, this opportunity is significant. Being part of the Venice Biennale is something that makes us feel good because we know that what we do is part of a system that, although imperfect, allows us to reach places like this. It’s an important point in our trajectory and an achievement that fills us with satisfaction.Save this picture! Image gallerySee allShow less About this authorPaula PintosAuthor••• Cite: Pintos, Paula. "Rest as an Experience in a Space Rich with Symbolism: Insights from the Argentinian Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Biennale" [El Pabellón Argentino en la Bienal de Venecia 2025: La siesta como experiencia en un espacio cargado de simbolismos] 15 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1030139/rest-as-an-experience-in-a-space-rich-with-symbolism-insights-from-the-argentinian-pavilion-at-the-2025-venice-biennale&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

New papal names often drip with meaning. Pope Francis, in 2013, named himself after Saint Francis of Assisi, signifying his dedication to poverty, humility, and peace. Pope Paul VI, in 1963, modeled himself after Paul the Apostle, becoming the first pope to make apostolic journeys to other continents. When Robert Francis Prevost announced on Saturday he would take the name Leo XIV, he gave an unexpected reason for his choice: the rise of AI. The most recent Pope Leo, Prevost explained, served during the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 19th century, and railed against the new machine-driven economic systems turning workers into mere commodities. Now, with AI ushering in a “new industrial revolution,” the “defense of human dignity, justice and labor” is required, he said. With his name choice and speech, Leo XIV firmly marks AI as a defining challenge facing our world today. But also embedded in the name is a potential path forward. Leo XIII, during his papacy, laid out a vision for protecting workers against tech-induced consolidation, including minimum wage laws and trade unions. His ideas soon gained influence and were implemented in government policies around the world. While it's still unclear what specific guidance Leo XIV may issue on artificial intelligence, history suggests the implications of his crusade could be profound. If he mobilizes the world's one billion Catholics against AI's alienating potential as decisively as his namesake confronted industrial exploitation, Silicon Valley may soon face an unexpected and formidable spiritual counterweight.“We have a tradition that views work from a theological perspective. It’s not simply burdensome; it’s where we develop ourselves,” says Joseph Capizzi, dean of theology and religious studies for The Catholic University of America. “Pope Leo XIV is going to be drawing on our tradition to try to make a case for finding work that dignifies human beings—even while making space for AI to do things that human beings will no longer be doing.” Rerum NovarumAt the heart of Leo XIV’s new name choice is Leo XIII’s formal letter Rerum Novarum, which he wrote in 1891. At the time, the Industrial Revolution was upending society. Mechanized production and factory systems generated unprecedented wealth and productivity, but led to the displacement of many agrarian jobs and people to move into overcrowded, unsanitary urban centers in search of work. The jobs there were grueling, unsafe, and paid terribly. The wealth gap widened dramatically, leading to massive social unrest and the rise of communist ideology. In the midst of these many challenges, Leo penned Rerum Novarum, an encyclical that marked the first major example of a pope commenting on social justice. In it, Leo wrote that “a small number of very rich men” had laid “upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself.” There now existed as “the gulf between vast wealth and sheer poverty,” he wrote. To combat this trend, Leo explored potential solutions. First, he rejected communism, arguing that workers had a right to the fruits of their own labors. But he also stressed the need for a living wage, time for workers for family and church, and the right to form Christian trade unions. “He was really championing the rights of workers,” says Dr. Richard Finn, director of the Las Casas Institute at Blackfriars, Oxford. In this colorized print from "La Ilustración Española y Americana," Pope Leo XIII directs a phonograph message to the American Catholic people on the occasion of his jubilee, in 1892. (Getty Images—LTL/Heritage Images)These ideas eventually caught hold. One of the first major advocates of minimum wage laws in the U.S. was the priest and economist John A. Ryan, who cited Pope Leo as a significant influence. Many ideas in his text “A Living Wage and Distributive Justice” were later incorporated into the New Deal, when Ryan was an influential supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the 1960s, the Catholic Church eventually came out in support of César Chávez and the United Farmworkers (UFW), which Chávez told TIME in 1966 was the “single most important thing that has helped us.” In Australia, Rerum Novarum influenced political leaders who forged a basic wage in that country. And in Mexico, the Rerum Novarum spurred the creation of many Catholic labor unions and mutual aid societies. “It really shaped Catholic activism, with organizations working to ensure that Mexico was neither an unfettered capitalist country nor a Marxist state-owned state,” says Julia Young, a professor at the Catholic University of America. “It was successful in creating Catholic associations that were very politically vocal.” The Church and AIMore than a century after the industrial revolution, a similarly impactful technological revolution is unfolding, amidst many similar economic circumstances. “In terms of similarities between now and then, there was rural to urban immigration changing the workplace, widespread exploitation of workers, and seemingly growing poverty in urban areas,” Young says. “And so you had the church trying to respond to that and saying, ‘We have a different response than Marx or the robber barons.” While Leo XIV hasn’t yet explicitly called for any of the same measures as Leo XIII, it is clear that he believes the rise of AI necessitates some sort of counterweight. And his citing of Rerum Novarum also perhaps reveals a hunger to provoke widespread social change and offer a third path in a two-power arms race. “In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution,” he said on Saturday. Across the world, people are expressing intense anxiety about AI causing job displacement. (Some economists contend that these fears are overblown, however.) Like in the industrial revolution, the initial spoils of AI are flowing to a few ultra-powerful companies. And AI companies have also reinforced some of the worst aspects of predatory global capitalism systems: OpenAI, for instance, outsourced some of its most grueling AI training to Kenyan laborers earning less than $2 an hour. Leo’s interest in this area continues that of Pope Francis, who became increasingly vocal about the threats to humanity posed by AI in his later years. Last summer at the G7 Summit, he called for an international treaty to regulate AI, arguing that it could exacerbate social tensions, reinforce dominant cultures, and undermine education. “We would condemn humanity to a future without hope if we took away people’s ability to make decisions about themselves and their lives, by dooming them to depend on the choices of machines,” he said. Some leaders have signaled the importance of prioritizing workers’ rights during the AI revolution, like Senator Josh Hawley. But until a coherent political movement emerges, moral leadership on human dignity in the face of AI may flow from the church, and Pope Leo’s outspoken leadership. “He’s saying AI is going to change the workplace—but it's got to change it in a way that fits with the dignity of employees,” says Dr. Finn. 

Lovell House | © Julius Shulman Few residential projects in the history of architecture have so concisely synthesized the aspirations of the modernist movement as the Lovell House. Designed by Richard Neutra and constructed between 1927 and 1929, this hillside residence overlooking Los Angeles is more than a stylistic landmark. It is a rigorous exploration of space, health, and industrial modernity. Commissioned by Dr. Philip Lovell, a health advocate and proponent of naturopathy, the house was conceived not as a retreat from the world but as a manifesto supporting rational living. For Neutra, who had recently arrived in the United States from Europe, this project represented a professional breakthrough and a profoundly personal alignment of ideological principles. Lovell House Technical Information Architects1-6: Richard Neutra Location: 4616 Dundee Drive, Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, USA Area: 446 m2 | 4,800 Sq. Ft. Project Year: 1927 – 1928 Photographs: © Julius Shulman Philip Lovell wanted a house that would express his ideas of health, hygiene, and fitness. I wanted a house that would express my ideas of modern architecture. In the end, we built both. – Richard Neutra 7 Lovell House Photographs © Michael Locke, Flickr User © Michael Locke, Flickr User © Barcelo Photography © Barcelo Photography © Barcelo Photography © Barcelo Photography © Julius Shulman © Julius Shulman © Julius Shulman © Julius Shulman © Julius Shulman © Julius Shulman Context and Commission The interwar period witnessed a radical reevaluation of domestic space, partly driven by technological advancements and shifting attitudes toward hygiene and well-being. Within this cultural milieu, Dr. Lovell, already known for commissioning the Lovell Beach House by Rudolf Schindler, sought to build a residence that would embody his beliefs in clean living, sun exposure, and fresh air. His choice of Neutra, an architect trained in Vienna and influenced by figures such as Adolf Loos and Erich Mendelsohn, signaled a deliberate move toward a more European, functionalist approach. The Lovell House was Neutra’s first major commission in the United States and his opportunity to engage with the burgeoning discourse around the International Style. Lovell’s trust in Neutra and the architect’s commitment to creating a scientifically ordered environment set the stage for one of the most iconic modern homes in American architecture. Design Strategies and Construction Innovation On the hills of Los Feliz, the Lovell House is among the earliest examples of residential steel-frame construction in the United States. Neutra’s use of this system, more commonly associated with commercial or industrial buildings then, allowed for a remarkably lightweight structure that could seemingly float above its steep site. The steel frame also permitted large spans and cantilevers, freeing the plan from traditional load-bearing constraints and enabling expansive glazed openings. The house is organized as a vertical sequence of spaces, with each floor serving a distinct function. The lower level includes areas for exercise and recreation, aligned with Lovell’s ideals, while the upper floors house living and sleeping quarters. Circulation is carefully orchestrated, with a suspended exterior stair emphasizing the connection between levels without interrupting the building’s formal clarity. Transparency and openness are guiding principles throughout the design. Ribbon windows, floor-to-ceiling glazing, and open terraces blur the boundary between inside and out, capitalizing on Southern California’s climate while reinforcing Neutra’s belief in architecture’s capacity to mediate between human beings and their environment. Materiality and Environmental Integration The Lovell House’s material language is deliberately spare. Industrial steel, concrete, glass, and stucco are deployed precisely, rejecting ornamentation in favor of surface, proportion, and rhythm. Neutra’s choice of materials was aesthetic and deeply aligned with the project’s hygienic ethos: smooth, cleanable surfaces, built-in furniture, and controlled daylight contribute to a sense of physical and psychological well-being. Despite its machine-like clarity, the house is far from alienated from its context. The steeply sloping terrain becomes an active component of the design. Outdoor terraces, bridges, and gardens mediate between the constructed and natural environments, encouraging movement, exposure to sunlight, and engagement with the landscape. Neutra’s sensitivity to site and orientation ensured that the building was not merely placed on the land but woven into its topography and climate. Legacy and Influence The Lovell House has long occupied a pivotal place in the architectural canon. Featured in the 1932 Museum of Modern Art exhibition that introduced the International Style to an American audience, it exemplified the movement’s nationalist ideals in built form. Its influence on subsequent generations of architects in the U.S. and abroad cannot be overstated. For Neutra, the project marked the beginning of a prolific career dedicated to what he termed “biorealism”: integrating architecture with its inhabitants’ physiological and psychological needs. The house’s emphasis on health, efficiency, and environmental responsiveness would become hallmarks of his later work. Lovell House Plans Sketches | © Richard Neutra Floor Plans | © Richard Neutra Elevations | © Richard Neutra Elevations | © Richard Neutra Isometric View | © Richard Neutra Lovell House Image Gallery About Richard Neutra Richard Neutra (1892–1970) was an Austrian-American architect whose work played a pivotal role in defining the architectural identity of mid-20th century California. Deeply influenced by European modernism and trained under figures like Adolf Loos and briefly Frank Lloyd Wright, Neutra brought a rigorous, human-centered approach to design that emphasized clarity, health, and environmental responsiveness. His architecture fused technological precision with psychological and physiological considerations, resulting in dwellings that were as much about wellness as they were about aesthetics. Best known for projects like the Lovell House and the Kaufmann Desert House, Neutra’s legacy is a model of modern architecture’s potential to harmonize life, nature, and innovation. Credits and Additional Notes Client: Dr. Philip Lovell Design Period: 1927 Construction Period: 1928–1929 Site Conditions: Steep hillside lot in Los Feliz with expansive views over Los Angeles Construction System: Steel-frame structure with gunite (sprayed concrete) and stucco cladding Architectural Style: International Style / Modernism Neutra: Complete Works by Barbara Mac Lamprecht, Peter Gossel, Dion Neutra, Julius Shulman

Imagine waking up each day excited for work, knowing that your efforts contribute to a global movement that impacts the world. If you’re ready for a career transformation, then we have an exhilarating opportunity for you at the Interaction Design Foundation (IxDF)!Join us, and you won’t just be changing jobs—you’ll be elevating your career on a global scale. At IxDF, we’re not just a company; we’re a movement dedicated to making high-quality design education accessible to everyone, everywhere. With team members and learners from over 100 countries, your role at IxDF will have a worldwide impact. From engaging with diverse cultures to contributing to a platform that reaches millions, your daily activities will be anything but ordinary.Our Commitment to Our MembersAt the core of every decision we make and every strategy we implement lies our unwavering commitment to our members—they are the fundamental reason for our existence. This profound dedication drives us to exceed their expectations at every turn. We are on the lookout for a candidate who embodies our ethos: someone who is not only exceptionally talented and diligent but who also possesses a profound empathy for our learners' needs and a relentless pursuit of excellence. Your role will be pivotal in ensuring that each member feels valued, supported, and inspired throughout their educational journey with us.Your place in the IxDF UniverseCorrespond daily with members and prospective learners across multiple channels—email, chat, and social media—providing quick, accurate responses to their questions. You’ll troubleshoot issues, offer guidance, and ensure a seamless user experience.Act as a brand ambassador by upholding our excellent reputation in every interaction. You’ll communicate our mission and values clearly, taking pride in representing a global community dedicated to design education. It’s a big responsibility, but also incredibly rewarding!Collaborate cross-functionally with teams across the organization to improve internal workflows and enhance the platform’s user experience. You’ll be the bridge between departments, ensuring that our operations are efficient and focused on delivering the best outcomes for our members.Support our Growth team in executing digital marketing initiatives, including managing paid media campaigns and overseeing content and engagement across our social media channels.Perform general administrative and ad-hoc project support, assisting extended team members as needed. Whether it’s organizing tasks, scheduling, or helping with project coordination, you’ll ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently.Maintain and improve documentation by ensuring that our knowledge resources are up-to-date, easy to access, and provide value to both our internal teams and learners. Your work will directly contribute to helping others succeed.Shape internal processes that directly impact engagement and key performance indicators (KPIs). You’ll analyze workflows and recommend improvements to help us provide even better services for our members.Update our internal knowledge base and contribute to department-wide initiatives focused on knowledge sharing. You’ll ensure that important insights and best practices are easily available to all, driving continuous improvement.Communicate and collaborate effectively with other teams to relay customer needs and insights. By sharing valuable feedback, you’ll help us maximize retention, improve member satisfaction, and drive growth.Embody our values as you are often the first point of contact for our community. You’ll play a key role in welcoming and supporting members, helping our foundation grow and strengthen through meaningful interactions.Take full accountability for your tasks, managing your responsibilities with independence and self-discipline. You’ll consistently deliver high-quality results, meet deadlines, and maintain focus while balancing multiple priorities with minimal supervision.About YouYou thrive in a fast-paced environment where you handle ad-hoc projects of varying complexities with ease and enthusiasm.You have experience in customer success, with bonus points if you’ve worked in digital marketing or managed social media channels.Helping people excites you, and you take pride in earning their gratitude through your support and problem-solving skills.You are resourceful and autonomous, always ready to take on new tasks and projects with a problem-solving mindset that ensures everything gets done efficiently.Attention to detail and thoroughness come naturally to you. You enjoy ensuring that every task is completed with care and precision.You relish solving problems—especially the ones that haven't even been noticed yet. Meeting specific needs of different people brings you satisfaction, and you enjoy proactively addressing challenges before they arise.You are fluent in written and spoken English with exceptional writing skills, perfect grammar and an appreciation for the power of tone, brevity and microcopy.You take full ownership of tasks, knowing what it means to see something through to completion and deliver high-quality results.Consistency is key for you, and you stay focused even when tasks become repetitive, ensuring nothing slips through the cracks.You are comfortable with tight deadlines and excel at prioritizing tasks to meet them, keeping projects on track.Resilience is one of your strengths, and when things go off-track, you bounce back quickly, offering valuable solutions to move forward.You are highly self-disciplined, thriving in a flat hierarchy where you enjoy the freedom and minimal supervision that comes with it.You are located within a time zone from Europe (UTC+0) to East Asia (UTC+8), making it easy to collaborate with our global team.Bonus PointsYou get bonus points if the art of writing isn’t just a skill, but a passion. You find joy in crafting each sentence with care and precision.You have a genuine curiosity about user experience (UX) design and are interested in how it can improve the quality of life for people around the world.You love making complex concepts accessible, and you enjoy teaching or explaining ideas in a way that’s engaging and easy to understand.You have an exceptional talent for creating structure, and you take pride in organizing processes and tasks in a way that’s efficient and clear.What We Can OfferA highly valued role: Many organizations undervalue admin and support employees, but at IxDF, you’ll be joining one of our most valued and cherished teams. Your contributions will be recognized as essential to our success.Opportunities for growth and impact: At IxDF, you’ll have room to grow professionally while making a real difference. You’ll contribute to projects that directly impact our global community, adding value to the educational experience of thousands of learners.A Global, Purpose-Driven Team – Work alongside passionate professionals from all over the world, united by a common mission.Engagement with a Thriving Global Community – You’ll have the opportunity to support and interact with our local groups, educational partners, and community initiatives. Whether it’s helping organize IxDF Local Groups, facilitating partnerships with educational institutions, or engaging with our vibrant design community, your work will contribute to a stronger, more connected global network of UX professionals and learners.A full-time position, within a fully remote organization. Daily video-based collaboration with your colleagues from elsewhere on the planet, and you’ll get to meet up on team trips every year.A work culture with no fluffy titles, political agendas and corporate drama. Your colleagues value your warm character, your strong work ethic, and the results you deliver. Junior or senior, if you embody old-school virtues of always striving to deliver results, learn and become better every day, you'll thrive at the IxDF.A daily mission to help impact, empower, and enrich the lives of millions of people by creating affordable high-end design education for everyone across the planet. It’ll be yours too.A company where the distance between idea and execution is minimal. We’re a highly agile organization with zero bureaucracy or corporate politics – and with exceptional order and efficiency.A company culture where passion meets high performance and excellence. To help us improve the world (and yourself in the process), you’ll need grit, strong work ethic, long-term thinking, and self-discipline.We thrive because we have a hands-on attitude and a bias towards action as opposed to fluff-filled, unrealistic strategies. You’ll need crisp execution skills yourself and the ability to impress your colleagues with concrete results, just like they’ll impress you.How to Learn More and Apply  To submit your application as well as learn more about our Work Culture and Values, please visit https://www.interaction-design.org/about/careers Please apply as soon as you can—we’re firm believers of “the sooner, the better” and we’re looking forward to working with you! 

After reviewing almost 500 projects, we’re excited to share the winners of the 2023 Unity for Humanity Grant. All of the social impact creators receiving funding this year are using real-time 3D to drive change in truly innovative ways.Projects were judged based on vision, impact, inclusion, and viability. Winners will receive a bespoke grant from a pool of $500,000 USD, plus mentorship and technical support to help bring their projects to life. If you have a project you’d like to submit in the future, sign up to the Social Impact mailing list for updates about when next year’s grant will open.What’s the project?X-Ray Fashion is a VR documentary by Denmark-based XR studio MANND that uses immersive storytelling to educate audiences about issues within the fashion industry. The project combines virtual reality with corresponding physical elements (for example, when walking through water in the documentary, you walk through shallow water in the real world) to create a truly sensory experience that takes viewers through the various stages of a typical garment’s production process, from the sweat shop all the way to the catwalk.What’s the purpose?The fashion industry is the second-largest polluter in the world. It accounts for 10% of all global carbon emissions, and a huge 60% of textiles are thrown away within one year of being made. On top of that, a single pair of denim jeans requires 10,000 liters of water to make.The creators of X-Ray Fashion recognize that our habit of constantly changing our wardrobes and disposing of clothes we no longer like is having a big impact. Their goal is to use this immersive experience to change consumer behavior by helping viewers understand the impact that their wardrobes have on the environment and people working in the industry. Ultimately, the project encourages lifestyle changes such as buying second-hand garments, taking better care of what we already own, and minimizing our overall fashion consumption.What’s the project?Trying to put how you’re feeling into words when experiencing complex emotions and mental health issues can often be difficult. Sarah Ticho encountered this challenge when trying to describe her grief and mental state to a doctor during a time when she needed help. The experience led her to collaborate with experience designer Niki Smit to develop SoulPaint, a VR project in which participants create artwork on an avatar that expresses their inner world using color, shapes, movement, and imagery.What’s the purpose?According to Harvard Medical School, miscommunication is at the heart of most medical errors. SoulPaint is a unique experience that aims to transform the way we communicate our emotions with others, remove the stigma around mental health, and trigger impactful conversations by creating a shared exhibition experience in public spaces worldwide. It will also ultimately provide a tool that allows patients to improve communication with health care professionals.What’s the project?Quantum’s Pursuit is a game by Limbitless Solutions that lets children with bionic limbs play the limb-different grandchildren of Dr. Quantum, a tech genius and wizard who has developed renewable energy. Dr. Quantum has been kidnapped by evil Galacdorks trying to steal his invention, and it’s the player’s goal to journey through the levels, defeat the boss, and save Dr. Quantum.The game allows hospitals to teach children how to use their new bionic limbs in a fun, engaging, and stress-free way, while also gaining insight into the needs of each child based on their muscle strength – information that is usually difficult to ascertain.What’s the purpose?Limbitless Solutions provides free bionic arms, training, and even covers travel costs for patients and their families. This incredible project can vastly improve the quality of life of children with limb differences and ease the transition to a bionic limb during an otherwise difficult time.What’s the project?Using VR, Follow the Investigation: Inside the ICC shows International Criminal Court (ICC) cases at various stages of the judicial process. The experience provides valuable insight into how the ICC system works to bring those responsible for crimes against humanity – including war crimes and genocide – to justice.Viewers witness testimonies from survivors of past ICC cases, visit field investigation sites, process evidence in ICC forensic labs, and sit in on courtroom proceedings drawn from a variety of infamous global cases.What’s the purpose?This project serves as a somber reminder of and education about the work of the ICC and the process of seeking justice, helping to raise awareness of atrocities and the experiences of survivors to ensure continued global support for their recovery and the work of the ICC. The project also offers an impactful way for victims of horrific crimes to better understand the legal processes that relate to their own cases.What’s the project?In World Reborn, the world’s first activism adventure game, your goal is to save the world after a cataclysmic event fractures it into multiple realities. The mobile game uses AR to combine actions in the real world with choices in the virtual world, encouraging players to make a difference in both. Real-world actions that help you progress through the game include donating money, picking up trash, completing breathing exercises, and more.What’s the purpose?90% of the 72 million teenagers in the U.S. play video games. Having grown up with an awareness of pressing global issues – including climate change, mental health, and racial injustice – they want to make a difference, but often feel powerless to do so. The founders of Wicked Saints, creators of World Reborn, worked for the world’s largest peacebuilding organization and trained young movement leaders all over the world. They saw how many lives were transformed using an approach called Common Ground Activism – attacking the problem, not the person. Now, they’re building World Reborn to empower young people with CGA skills and drive change through incremental steps in the real world. Join their Discord community to get special access and be part of building the game.What’s the project?“What would the children of the future think about the mistakes of our past?” is the question that Team Gramps sought to answer with A Week at Belisamas Lake. This narrative-based mobile fishing game follows young Lotus and their grandmother Pearl as they recover 21st-century trash from a local lake in a future where humanity has overcome the climate crisis – and profoundly changed in the process. Using gyroscopic controls, you fish for items, inspect them, and listen as Pearl sheds light on relics of the past.What’s the purpose?Through a wholesome, optimistic narrative, A Week at Belisamas Lake shines a light on the possibility of a future society in a post-climate change world. Weaving together intergenerational relationships and items of the present day, the story examines just how drastically things might change if we don’t take action now, and how meaningful climate action will ultimately change us.Trigger warning: griefWhat’s the project?Drawing on the 17-year life cycle and symbolism of the Brood X cicadas, this virtual reality experience follows a mother’s journey to find meaning after the loss of her son. Using personal audio files, music, and images, the player is taken on a journey through the mother’s narrative, interacting with the experiences of passing time and grief.What’s the purpose?Year of the Cicadas is a mother’s reflection on the power of finding meaning in the most tragic of stories, and how that meaning transforms over time. The goal of this experience is to provide a window into the life-long journey of meaning-making after child loss for those who may know or work with bereaved parents and family members.Trigger warning: sexual assault, child abuseWhat’s the project?This mobile game is designed for parents who suspect their child may be the victim of sexual abuse or who want to talk to their children about topics like consent. Patito uses minigames to show a young character realizing he is a victim, providing a sensitive approach to educating children and parents on these difficult topics.What’s the purpose?According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), over 4.5 million children are victims of sexual abuse every year in Mexico. Pink Bear Games have created Patito to raise awareness of this issue and help give parents an effective way to communicate about sexual abuse and consent with their children. Their goal is to provide the app for free in an effort to help prevent future cases.Congratulations to all of this year’s winners – we can’t wait to share more of their projects with you. If you’re a social impact creator, join the Unity for Humanity Community Discord to meet like-minded creators.

Microsoft faces more legal action in the UK, this time from a barrister named Alexander Wolfson who issued an opt-out class action claim this week alleging that public or private organizations in the UK that purchased certain software licenses (including for Microsoft Office and Windows) since October 1, 2015, were overcharged due to Microsoft’s market practices. Wolfson, who retained the services of Stewarts LLP, a litigation-only law firm, said in a release issued on Wednesday, “Microsoft’s actions have had a significant and far-reaching impact on UK consumers, businesses, and public bodies.” This claim, he said, “seeks to hold Microsoft to account and to secure compensation for the many affected members of the class. With billions of pounds potentially at stake, this case is about ensuring fairness in the digital marketplace and ensuring even the largest tech companies play by the rules.” “Microsoft’s conduct has had a profound and costly impact on millions of individuals and private and public sector organizations that rely on its software for daily business operations,” said Kate Pollock, the head of competition litigation at Stewarts. “We believe that Microsoft abused its market dominance by imposing restrictive licensing practices that effectively shut down competition and inflated prices.” Highlights an industry-wide issue An FAQ created by the plaintiff explained the format of the suit: “Opt-out collective proceedings are a special form of court proceedings that enable a class representative to bring a claim on behalf of a defined class of persons in the UK affected by an infringement of competition law,” it said. “This means that if your organization fits within the class definition you will automatically be included in the claim and will be bound by any judgment or settlement unless you choose to opt-out of the proceedings.” Ellora MacPherson, managing director and chief investment officer at Harbour, which has agreed to fund the case, described the suit as “likely to be one of the largest the UK has seen and is an example of how big corporate entities can be held to account.” Forrester Senior Analyst Dario Maisto pointed out Wednesday via email, “this is not the first time that Microsoft gets attention for allegedly unfair commercial practices. Microsoft was also sued in the UK in 2024 over allegations that it overcharged Windows Server customers to use the software on competing cloud platforms.” He added, “the Cloud Infrastructure Providers in Europe organization (CISPE) took a similar action on Microsoft’s licensing practices when its cloud computing competitors filed a complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission.” According to Maisto, “while it is totally understandable why law firms and competitors keep engaging in such lawsuits against Microsoft, we should finally admit that these are all symptoms of a bigger issue, that is, people and organizations’ extreme [dependence] on third-party proprietary solutions and a fundamental lack of alternative standards.” This is, he said, the problem that we as an IT industry need to solve, as we cannot keep relying on specific lawsuits to address — one at a time — all the problems of what we could start to define now as a much broader market disfunction.”  Computerworld reached out to Microsoft for a comment but at press time had not received a response.