SEASON 2 : LISTEN NOW
Brendan Dawes โ Now Becomes Then (signed haiku broadsheet)
A signed, large-format algorithmic broadsheet by Brendan Dawes, using code, machine poetry, and generative systems to document twenty-five years of independent creative practice.
โNow Becomes Thenโ is a forty-page, large-format broadsheet publication created by Brendan Dawes to mark twenty-five years of brendandawes.com โ a self-owned digital space dedicated to experimentation, process, and creative independence.
Rather than compiling conventional project documentation, Dawes designed a procedural system that transforms each project title into a unique digital sculpture: a three-dimensional, algorithmically generated form that functions as a visual fingerprint. These forms reflect Dawesโs long-standing belief that digital work possesses an implied physical shape โ a presence beyond the screen.
Text is generated through a similarly experimental process. Using a locally run language model, Dawes fed in original project texts and asked the system to produce a haiku for each โ machine-written poetry that sits alongside the sculptural imagery and archival material. These elements are then combined via a custom compositing system, built using an API drawn directly from his website. Each run produces a new layout, meaning the publication itself is the result of generative variability rather than fixed design.
The project is both a document and a manifesto: a defence of the open web, creative ownership, and interoperability. It argues for spaces free from platform algorithms, where experimentation, play, and cross-disciplinary thinking remain possible.
Produced as an edition of 100, each copy is signed and numbered.
Format: 380 ร 578 mm broadsheet, 40 pages, folded.
Materials and tools include Houdini, TouchDesigner, Processing, Ollama, Kirby, PHP, and Python.
Typography: Warbler and Lab DJR Basic by David Jonathan Ross.
A precise, thoughtful artifact from one of digital artโs most quietly influential voices.
(images: Brendan Dawes)
