
The seemingly small moments in life, these transient scars, bumps and scratches from the every day, these fleeting moments of data – when noticed and amplified – say so much.
Yet data by itself is not enough; data needs poetry. Within the data, I leave space for the unexpected to grow, for randomness to appear and shadows to creep in. This creates an environment for others to play within, to bring themselves into the work.
These environments are created from algorithmic and generative systems, formed from code, data and mathematics; a rule-based playground designed to surface surprise and delight.
Brendan Dawes is a UK based artist using generative systems involving data, machine learning and code.
A Lumen Prize and Aesthetica Art prize Alumni, his work has been featured in many exhibitions across the world including Big Bang Data in thirteen cities, three MoMA shows in New York, Brighton Digital Festival, ArtFutura and ZKM. His Cinema Redux work became part of the MoMA permanent collection in 2008.
Following his Genesis NFT on KnownOrigin selling within the hour to legendary collector WhaleShark, Dawes went on to release a collection on Nifty Gateway – selling out in under sixty seconds. He has also released work on MakersPlace, Foundation and SuperRare. He was part of ‘NTFism: No Fear in Trying’ curated by Kenny Schachter. His work has been auctioned at Sotheby’s Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale, The Burnt Auction – the first NFT sale offered by an auction house in France with Fauve Paris and Generative Art and The Future an art exhibition in Shenzhen hosted by China’s largest auction house, Beijing Poly.
He is represented in the UK and Europe by Gazelli Art House.
Highlights include creating 99,999 generative snowflakes for the Winter 2020 limited edition release of Field Notes; a story-telling installation at the Sundance Film Festival for Airbnb; a generative installation for Twitter creating real-time digital creatures in response to tweets; a campaign for Trend Micro showing the beauty of Cyber security data; a print campaign for EE visualising social media traffic in eleven UK cities captured over three days; a 360 degree video projection for Platts displaying the journey of over 3000 ships as well as work now part of the permanent collection at MoMA in New York, creating a visual fingerprint of an entire movie.
Selected Solo Shows
- Moments Spent with Others, Gazellio, London, UK, 2022
- Somewhere Amongst The Trees, Dog & Pony, Munich, Germany, 2015
- Dot Dot Dot, SIA, Sheffield, UK, 2014
- Cinema Redux, Richard Goodall Gallery, Manchester, UK, 2012
Selected Group Shows
- Gen/Gen: Generative Generations, Gazelli Art House, London, 2023
- Cartography of the Soul, Christies 3.0, 2023
- Digital Impact, Disseny Hub, Barcelona, Spain, 2023
- Photofairs, Shanghai, China, 2023
- Factory : Première !, NFT Factory, Paris, France, 2022
- IN TOUCH: Art in the Age of Post-NFTism, dekabinett, Berlin, Germany, 2022
- Ghost in the Machine, SuperRare Gallery, New York, USA, 2022
- Proof of People, Fabric, London, UK, 2022
- Cartography of the Mind, Christies, New York, USA, 2022
- Yongle Auction House, Beijing, China, 2022
- The Burnt Auction, Fauve Paris, Paris, France, 2022
- Art & NFTs: The Digital Roots, LA Frieze, Los Angeles, USA, 2022
- Transformations, Unit London, London, UK, 2021
- Guangzhou Art and Culture Expo , Beijing, China, 2021
- American Express Platinum Lounge, The Miami Beach Edition at Art Basel, Miami, USA, 2021
- DCentralCon, Miami, USA, 2021
- Shenzhen NFT Art Week, Shenzhen, China, 2021
- CAFA Global NFT Art Season, Shanghai, China, 2021
- Generative Art and the Future, Poly Auction, Shenzen, China, 2021
- NFTism, Unit London, London, UK, 2021
- Natively Digital, Sotheby's, London, UK, 2021
- .ext, Gazelli Art House, London, UK, 2021
- Renaissance 2.0, Rome, Italy, 2020
- Art Futura 2020, Europe and North America, USA, 2020
- Brighton Digital Festival, Brighton, UK, 2019
- ZKM Season of Media Arts 2019, Germany, 2019
- Big Bang Data, Artscience Museum, Singapore, 2016
- Big Bang Data, Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Santiago, Chile, 2016
- Impression 3D, Le Lieu Du Design, Paris, France, 2016
- Big Bang Data, Somerset House, London, UK, 2015
- _remanufactum, Szczecin, 2015
- Designing with Data, Hyundai Card Design Library + MoMA, Seoul, South Korea, 2015
- Big Bang Data, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2015
- Big Bang Data, CCCB, Madrid, Spain, 2015
- Designer Data, National Centre for Craft and Design, Lincolnshire, UK, 2014
- Big Bang Data, CCCB, Barcelona, Spain, 2014
- Fieldguide, London Design Festival, London, UK, 2012
- Talk to Me, MoMA, New York, USA, 2010
- Action! Design Over Time, MoMA, New York, USA, 2010
- Design and the Elastic Mind, MoMA, New York, USA, 2008
Publications
- Digital Design: a History / Princeton University Press / 2023
- CryptoArt Begins / Rizzoli illustrati / 2022
- The Age of Data / Braun Publishing / 2021
- HAS Magazine 01 / Unesco / 2020
- The Book of Circles / Princeton Architectural Press / 2017
- Thoughts on Information Design / Lars Muller Publishing / 2014
- Infographics - Designing and Visualising Data / Promopress / 2014
- Play Matters / MIT Press / 2014
- Talk to Me / MoMA / 2010
- Design and the Elastic Mind / MoMA / 2008
- Graphic Design: The New Basics / Princeton Architectural Press / 2008
- Small Tech: The Culture of Digital Tools (Electronic Mediations) / University Of Minnesota Press / 2008
- Analog In, Digital Out / New Riders / 2006
- The Digital Canvas / Abrams Studio / 2006
- Personal Web Sites / Rockport / 2002
- Drag Slide Fade / New Riders / 2001
- In Your Face Too - the best of interactive interface design / Rockport / 2000
- New Masters of Flash / Friends of Ed / 2000
- Flash deConstruction: The Process, Design, and ActionScript of Juxt Interactive / New Riders / 2000
Coverage
- A groundbreaking exhibition uncovers new histories of human-machine interaction Right Click Save
- An exhibition at Gazelli Art House, takes us into the new dimension of digital art Wallpaper Magazine
- Brendan Dawes on AI and Creativity Chance Operations
- Artist-Centered Cybersecurity Outland
- 2022 in Review: Artists on NFTs Outland
- In Conversation with Rachel Falconer Gazelli Art House
- Brendan Dawes and the Art of Lost Time Right Click Save
- Meet Brendan Dawes, NFT Collector WhaleShark’s Favourite Digital Artist Tatler
- Brendan Dawes Sparks Thought and Imagination Through A Data-Driven Practice Artplugged
- Generative Art: The Artists Defining the Space Ledger
- Brendan Dawes on NFTs and Staying Curious Danielle Newnham Podcast
- Interview on Kait Borsay show Times Radio
- Buyers splash out on art that doesn’t exist The Times
- How cryptoart is turning creators into millionaires ITV News
- The Bitcoin Elite are Spending Millions on Collectable Memes Wired
- 3 Examples of Data Viz at the Boundary of Tech and Reality Infogr8
- Brendan Dawes's Seven Rules of Creativity Magenta
- Artist Fireside chat with Brendan Dawes
- The Science of Fine Art with Brendan Dawes Makersplace
- Beyond Work Danielle Newnham
- Interview on the This is HCD podcast
- Beyond The Chart Data Stories
- Data Stream Day BBC Radio 4
- Stories hidden in Data Creative Bloq
- Audio interview for Lecture in Progress
- An iOS App That Freezes Moments - A Chat With Kennedy's Brendan Dawes Forbes
- Artist Brendan Dawes selects his top 5 sources of inspiration Somerset House
- Brendan Dawes Sharing Your Work Make
- The Age of Hard and Soft Interview With Designer Brendan Dawes On Six Monkeys Image Source
- Visualizing Data With 3D Printing A Chat With Brendan Dawes Forbes












