3 days in Oeiras

Well that’s certainly not what I got as a ‘takeaway’ from the OFFF Festival in Lisbon from the last three days, but I think I know who did…

As I walked out of the Festival hall I over heard ‘…well, I didn’t really get immersed in the festival, I didn’t get much from it…’ thinking well where the fuck have you been for the past three days? Asleep in the corner!

Given this was my first OFFF Festival, hearing people like Joshua Davis, Sagmeister, Peters, Scher, Champagne Valentine, PES, ALVA, UVA and Koblin really change the way you approach, rationalise, realise and formulate ideas and concepts. Its an almost philosophical baptism of an ideology, the immersion into total freedom of expression and creativity for three days.

The OFFF was a way of shaping the way you think not just on a basic creative level but more fundamentally giving you a philosophical grounding in some really fundamental principles. It gave me the time to reflect on the work I have done to date and how I can approach new projects with a fresh pair of eyes and a clearer vision.

In some ways the sentiments left by Stagmeister in his final slides really made me think about not just the creative process, but more on a fundamental level, how you live your life.

With all the speakers, there was probably a combined experience of roughly 700 years spanning visual arts, typography, music, ilustration, animation, motion picture and fine art. The OFFF Festival certainly left its impression irrevocably on media140. We are looking forward to next year…

So what was your takeaway this year from OFFF?