British Underground and Arts Council England together announce the return of Future Art and Culture at the international festival of tech and innovation, South by Southwest Interactive (SXSW). The seventh annual showcase of British talent focusing on work that explores the boundaries of art and technology, Future Art and Culture, which in 2023 receives additional support from the British Council, is presented through exhibitions, panel discussions, partnerships and networking events. It takes place simultaneously at venues in Austin, Texas and in the metaverse, between 12 – 14 March 2023.

From an animated augmented reality re-telling of Dracula, to a multisensory journey through an Acid House rave, and from motion capture performances that challenge the way the body is understood, to smartphone Artificial Intelligence that examines the use of facial recognition and surveillance technology, this year’s programme of high profile presentations will include both US and international premieres of multidisciplinary commissions, including collaborations focused on dance, music, film and literature.

The diverse, interactive experiences will feature in the SXSW XR Experience track and include immersive AI (artificial intelligence), VR (virtual reality) and XR (extended reality) projects, together with panels on the future of the arts in the digital realm. The central digital art commissions to be presented as part of Future Art and Culture 2023, can today be revealed as:

Darren Emerson and East City Films’ critically acclaimed IN PURSUIT OF REPETITIVE BEATS, which will receive its US premiere at SXSW following its original presentation as part of Coventry City of Culture programme. A euphoric, interactive Virtual Reality adventure, In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats transports you into the heart of the UK’s acid house movement, where finding the party is the only thing that matters. Taking audiences on a multi-sensory joyride into the past, it brings to life the stories of the promoters, police officers and rave-goers, whose rivalries and relationships drove a revolution in music and society. This multi-sensory space enables participants to feel the anticipation, trepidation, excitement and euphoria that was Acid House.

FIGURAL BODIES, conceived by Candoco Dance and Daniel Strut, explores fantastical interaction and reimagines the ways in which  the body is understood and represented through immersive technology. Seeking to challenge the absence of disabled bodies in immersive experiences, Figural Bodies is a motion-capture dance performance, which reimagines ableist representations, instead celebrating subversion and difference. Disabled dancers Kat Hawkins and Susanna Dye, located in Austin and London respectively, will be connected via a special motion capture tool and seek to find each other and communicate through virtual interaction. Audiences can watch in Virtual Reality (VR) as well as on screens, in live and pre-captured performance modes, in a powerful exploration of disability-centred design in immersive technology.

The world premiere of THE INVITED: Created by Lead Artists and Directors Davy and Kristin McGuire of Studio Maguire, The Invited combines an exquisite fine art pop-up book with engrossing augmented reality animations to bring the story of Dracula to life as if by magic. Set in a dark, secret location, a physical book and a tablet dressed as a ‘spirit detector’ summon 1-5 audience members at a time, through a captivating 20-minute experience where each page turn reveals a new exquisite paper world and a new set of haunting animations to those who are invited to become part of Dracula’s reincarnation.

Artist Karen Palmer’s CONSENSUS GENTIUM (Latin for ‘if everyone believes it, it must be true’) is a powerful exploration into the implications of today’s AI technology. It is an interactive, emotionally responsive film that integrates cutting-edge facial detection and AI, and transports audiences on a unique quest to discover what could happen if we succumb to unchecked surveillance. Through a smartphone, participants must visit their sick grandmother across a dystopian city. However, in order to do so, they are required to download a government surveillance based Global Citizen App. While Global Citizen measures their levels of dissidence and compliance, they receive calls and messages from friends and rogue techno-activists who reveal the consequences of their choices. How will they navigate the line between compliance and dissidence in order to care for their loved ones? And at what cost? Consensus Gentium is an interactive experience designed to drive discussion about data privacy, unconscious biases and the power of technology.

Singer Studio’s 40-minute interactive VR piece, MRS BENZ recently debuted at the Venice Biennale as part of Venice Immersive. Set in Germany in 1888, Mrs Benz dives into the perspective of a courageous woman who invested her reputation in her husband, Karl Benz, and his ‘horseless carriage’. Bertha stole her husband’s Motorwagen to travel 120 km with her two children —making his car world-famous in the process. Discover Bertha’s fascinating backstory via a Quest 2 Headset, search for the blueprints of this revolutionary contraption, and learn how to assemble its engine as you drive the world’s first ever car out of the Benz workshop, for the first ever time.

Picture This Productions has been nominated for a 2023 SXSW Innovation Award and presents Time Investigators (US title), the world’s first multi-sensory augmented reality game. Aimed at engaging family audiences in diverse stories from history, the game turns players into time-travelling detectives. They must use their sight, sound and smell to investigate mysteries from the past.

Future Art and Culture also build on the success of its 2022 partnership with UK musicians Miro Shot who present a ground-breaking concert that uses virtual reality and live music, using technology they have developed through their UK startup: Mirocolabs described by the BBC as “at the forefront of bringing VR to music”.

Alongside these genre-defying experiences, Future Art and Culture in partnership with BFI and Immersive Futures Lab will also curate The UK Immersive Takeover at UK House in Austin, on 14 March. This series of panels and discussion events with the projects’ creators, is focused on thought leadership and will explore the frontiers of these new creative technologies.