OFFSET 2019 reviewed, inspiring moments

Offset event reviewed

This year OFFSET, Ireland’s largest creative conference, hit a milestone reaching its tenth birthday. Starting back in 2009 in Liberty Hall with 400 attendees it has grown in stature year on year and now sees over 2,500 people coming through its doors. It is a weekend showcasing the top creative talent having hosted icons such as David Carson, Milton Glazer, Kyle Cooper and Stefan Sagmeister to name only a few.

The speakers come from a wide range of disciplines and attract a similar scope of attendees, from students and recent graduates to educators and professionals. It serves as a space for creatives, both Irish and international, to meet, learn and be inspired.

This year OFFSET was held at a new location moving from the Bord Gais Theatre to the Point Village. The venue worked very well as often new locations bring teething problems – the biggest issue being the hard fold down chairs having been spoilt with the Bord Gais Theatre’s plush seats the past years. OFFSHOOTS, a popular new addition last year of four 15 minute slots, returned in collaboration with the Facebook Art Department and kicked off each day with a total of 12 multi-disciplinary creatives over the weekend.

With the new location OFFSET gained access to a cinema to host a third area, the Archive Stage. This allowed the team to dip into their extensive recorded collection of 10 years of screen past speakers talks. This archive material can also be accessed online here.

As always the range of topics being discussed and work being presented is vast. Illustrators, animators, designers, typographers, filmmakers, photographers, advertisers and activists all got a shot on the main stage. From a typographic perspective Ariane Spanier’s work was a highlight as was Bruno Maag’s observations and how we might relate to the new world of type in a 3D world. Anna Mantzaris’s incredible felt stop-motion films were superb as was another Anna animator, Anna Ginsberg, who’s talk delved into how taboo subjects and powerful matters can be dealt with in an animated documentary form, from what is considered beauty to masturbation.

Irish photographers were well represented with New York based Rich Gilligan talking about his personal and professional career path, his documentary style a foil to the incredible and highly theatrical work of London based Gillian Hyland.

Social activism featured strongly this year. Joe Caslin is best known for his large format black and white murals. He uses his pieces to raise awareness on topics from the Marriage Equality referendum to mental wellbeing issues. Our other recent referendum on abortion featured with the REPEAL Project founder Anna Cosgrove taking the stage. James Victore was a loud brash whirlwind that closed the Saturday imploring us to ‘have a damn opinion’.

It was impossible not to get caught up with his enthusiasm and encouragement as he spoke of what drives him creatively and grabbing life by the balls no matter where or at what stage you are at, rather than talking about his impressive catalogue of work.

Droga 5 and Aaron Duffy represented the advertising profession, almost apologetically it seemed, acknowledging that ‘no one likes advertising’. Both talked more about process than just the work. Droga5 walked us through one project showing their process mantra of reference, prototype and conceptualise and how from start to finish took 722 meetings! Duffy’s presentation ‘10 Confessions of a Commercial Creative Director’ was a very honest look at his work and life, speaking of the ups and downs from his career.

Hearing of his losses was as informative as the wins, as was his final observations of recent fatherhood and the work/life balance. Likewise Carol Lambert from Irish agency Publicis spoke of her career path giving 8 lessons of a Creative Director and covering the struggles and hardships she has faced.

One of the highlights that OFFSET offers is seeing and hearing how the top talent arrives at the end product. To see what gets them scratching their brains is akin to Dorothy pulling back the curtains and seeing the inner workings of the Wizard of Oz. Witnessing the journey to get to the image/video/illustration that you know can be enlightening. It demystifies and humanises both the work and the people. It gives so much more to the audience, goes beyond looking at a portfolio of incredible work.

Work that doesn’t interest you or is from a field you know little about can become enthralling as they talk through their creative process. OFFSET and their speakers can be very inspiring, it can reignite the creative passions and show paths to those just setting out. It is a testament to the team behind it that they have reached ten years and shows the care in which they curate the festival. It was in recognition of this the directors Lisa Haran & Bren Byrne were deservedly awarded the President’s Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Design at the Irish Designers Awards.

See more pieces by Steve here.

---

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at Simon@IrishTechNews.ie or on Twitter: @SimonCocking