Every year, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, or Ithra, presents Tanween, a platform for thought leaders, innovative brands, industry pros, students and professionals specializing in architecture, graphic design, fashion, digital media and product design.
This year’s theme of “scale” had drawn a diverse group of professionals from all corners of the design industry. This is the place where creativity is celebrated and innovation thrives.
The excitement and anticipation were palpable when creative director Dan Goods took to the stage, bringing with him a wave of energy with his ground-breaking work as a visual strategist – a job he created for himself.
Goods leads an extraordinary team of creatives in a jet propulsion laboratory where they transform complex concepts into meaningful stories that can be universally understood.
Their work can be seen in public spaces, art museums, and outer space.
Goods recently finished working with the Museum of the Future in Dubai and has been honored with NASA’s Exceptional Public Service Award.
He won an International Design Excellence Award for his work on the eCLOUD, a 110-foot-long digital sculpture at the San Jose International Airport.
His other works include large-scale art exhibits at the Atlanta International Airport, SIAS International University in China and BMW in Paris.
In his talk “Seeing the Unseen”, he encouraged audiences to “go play” to be creative, to overthink less, and to just start doing.
He describes his offices as providing engineers and rocket scientists with the space to play, think and be free; to unleash their creativity; to be “crazier” and to explore themselves – not just the mysteries of outer space.
Goods’ talk was one of many highlights at Tanween which brought the elite of the design world together to explore the potential of human imagination through inspirational talks, panels, masterclasses and workshops.
Goods’s talent is in designing installations that are a work of art and yet a feat of engineering, a masterful blend of form and function.
The installations bring science and engineering to lay audiences through sensory art. Or in his words, “by speaking to people’s souls.”
In the past he was selected as “One of the most interesting people in Los Angeles” by the LA Weekly which the audience experienced during his presentation.
They watched in awe as Dan set up a cloud chamber, directing viewers to the screen of moving dots and streaks, which revealed actual muons and other charged particles that make up the background radiation of the universe from the Big Bang.
He posited: “If you only look at the universe through your eyes, you’ll miss most of it. We are made up of millions of atoms, that have existed for millions of years; and although we are only a speck in the universe, what we do matters. So, what you have to ask yourself is: what am I going to do with my brief moment in time?”
