An amazing, well curated, well organized experience not just for attendees, but also for the speakers. For anyone considering going, just do it! Take it from us!
Speaker Introduction – Brendan Dawes
Events are part of my life and if I say so, you might guess that I do my best to keep in touch with lots of the speakers I invite to beyond tellerrand. With some I write more frequently and other get a text message from time to time, whenever I think of them.
Brendan Dawes belongs to those people that I am in touch with nearly every day, but at least every week. I met Brendan for the first time in Amsterdam at an event he spoke at in 2001. An event that changed what I did from then on and where I met a lot of people who now already spoke at beyond tellerrand, like Joshua Davis, James Paterson, or Hoss Gifford for example. From what I remember (nah … am lying to you: I still have the printed program here), Brendan’s talk back then was titled “Dial I for Interactivity” and back then already he wasn’t limiting his content on the tools he was using. This is, to the day, what makes his work and the approach special for me.
Brendan never, in the 24 year of knowing him, limited any of his work by the tools he used. He also never limited himself to only one kind of work, or by the brief of a project. I remember when in one talk a longer time ago he said something like “Well and when the client asked, if I could do this, I said ‘Yes, of course I can do this’, but I actually had no clue how.”. I think that is an important piece of why Brendan and his work always has been unique and felt fresh. Because of stating that he’d be able to do this, he needed to come up with stuff and not repeat the things he’d done before.
It also shows how curious Brendan stayed. Yes, it is brave to simply state, that you’ll be able to do the job, but it is also reflecting his attitude to be playful and curious for any of the new projects. I know that many people say that things get boring, if they don’t really “re-invent” themselves etc. Well, Brendan truly lives like that.
Impressions of graphics for opening titles and posters Brendan created for us in 2019.
In all those years, Brendan Dawes has created products (like Popa for example), art and much, much more. His body of work surely gives enough content for presentation, but what I always am looking forward to is, when he talks about the process of creating. Where it started, what it turned into along the way and – also always wonderful to hear – what the people looking at it then think and say about it.
You’ll hopefully understand what I am saying here, when you come and see Brendan speaking at beyond tellerrand in Düsseldorf this year in May.
beyond tellerrand Düsseldorf 2025 is taking place on May 5 and 6 with workshops and Side Events on 4th and 7th.