SXSW 2022 Panels
Monday March 14th
UK & Canadian XR Project Pitching Power Hour
Manchester A, Fairmont
10am - 11am
UK-Canada Immersive Exchange is a new immersive talent development and co-production fund for creative practitioners and producers, supported by UK-Canada Immersive Exchange, supported by Arts Council England, Canada Council for the Arts, Canada Media Fund, CFC Media Lab and StoryFutures Academy. These international AR, VR and immersive audio co-productions focused on developing new immersive narrative experiences across two territories during COVID-19. Learn about a curated selection of completed XR prototype projects and possible funding and collaboration opportunities to bring them to market. The AR, VR and immersive audio initiatives are created by a community of innovators in immersive storytelling from both Canada and the UK.
Leonie Rae Gasson (Multi Reality Performance & VR Director at Produced Moon)
Dustin Harvey (Creative Director at XOST)
Jorge Lopes Ramos (Executive Director at ZU-UK)
Laura Mingall (Founder at Archetypes & Effects)
Sandra Rodriguez (Research Scholar at MIT)
chi thai (Founder at Last Conker Limited)
Mocap Streaming and Remote Dance Performance in VR
Manchester A, Fairmount
2.30pm - 3.30pm
This panel will discuss the technical, creative and conceptual issues around distributed performance experiences in VR. The conversation will focus on the VR Mocap Streamer project, a partnership between Alexander Whitley Dance Company and the Department for Media and Communications at Goldsmiths University, London, which attempts to bring live, fully embodied interactive performance from remote locations into a multi-user VR experience based on the seminal ballet The Rite of Spring.
Alex Whitley (Choreographer at Alexander Whitley Dance Company)
Daniel Strutt (Lecturer at Goldsmiths University)
Sandra Rodriguez (Research Scholar at MIT)
Allan Rankin (Co-Founder at Target 3D)
Tuesday March 15th
Cedar St Courtyard
10am - 6pm
Manchester A, Fairmont
11.30am - 12.30pm
Does Virtual Reality really have to be exhibited in a headset? Join us to explore the immersive environments that allow 360 degree and VR content to be consumed by a collective audience. Bringing together 360 visual artists, immersive content exhibitors and sector researchers, we will directly challenge the headset's role in delivering new VR and 360 degree content, arguing the case for domes, arcades, live elements, and location-specific experiences. Challenging the trend for social isolation in VR experiences, we present real world examples of VR working beautifully outside a headset. We will look at the limitations of headsets compared with live immersive experiences, advocating for development of 'shows' in VR, rather than just plugging in via a headset.
Lisa Brook (Artistic Director & CEO at Live Cinema UK)
Danielle Leblanc (Director at Charles Hayden Planetarium, Museum of Science)
Janire Najera (Director at CultVR / 4Pi Productions)
Kate Welham (Immersion Coordinator at Live Cinema UK)
Wednesday March 16th
Did COVID Kill or Cure Digital Arts?
Waller Ballroom ABC, Austin Marriott Downtown
10am - 11am
The shutdown of live arts and culture during the pandemic forced the sector to rethink how it operates in the digital space. But did the arts make the most of the COVID moment? Did they reach new audiences, or just retain their existing in-person audience? Did reliance on public funds and philanthropy limit the motivation to explore new digital revenue streams? What truly innovative work was created? And what are the success stories of the pivot to digital? Join leading industry professionals for a frank and forward-looking appraisal of the state of digital arts after COVID.
Owen Hopkin (Director, New Technologies & Innovation at Arts Council England)
Fiona Morris (Chief Executive and Creative Director at The Space)
Ankur Bahl (Outgoing Director of Digital Stage & Studio at Sadlers Wells)
Russ Tannen (President at DICE FM)
Thursday March 17th
Across the Metaverse: Independent Music in XR
2.30pm - 3.30pm
Room 17AB, Austin Convention Center
The metaverse and XR offers a vast and untapped playground and revenue source for the music industry but figuring out how to access the tech-forward fans who inhabit the space is still a work in progress. Megastars like Lil Nas X and Ariana Grande have made triumphant appearances in front of millions of fans in the technicolor open-worlds of Roblox and Fortnite and festivals from Glastonbury to Burning Man have hosted amazing virtual events to great acclaim. But if I'm an independent music-maker or label just getting back on my feet after lockdown how do I get started in XR? Who holds the keys to the kingdom and how do I make the metaverse work for me? This panel will explore these questions and offer insights and practical advice to help get you started.
Crispin Parry (CEO, British Underground)
Jon Vlassopulos (Head of Music at ROBLOX)
Anne McKinnon (COO at Ristband Inc)
Theon Cross (Musician)