Atlantic Crossings: B3 Media’s Artists at SXSW
B3 Media and British Underground: Empowering Diverse Voices in Art and Technology
This year marks B3 Media’s second collaboration with British Underground as the organisation continues to empower diverse voices in the creative arts and immersive tech sectors. Earlier in the year, B3 selected the four Associate Artists who would represent B3 at London’s REMIX Summit and SXSW in the USA.
Comfort Arthur (Animator, Writer, Director)
Dzifa Benson (Writer, Producer, Performance Maker)
Jeremiah Brown (Writer, Spoken-Word Artist, Actor)
Marcus Joseph (Musician, Spoken-Word Artist)
On these pages, I am thrilled to share our Associate Artists’ experiences of participating in the REMIX Summit in London and the Future Art and Culture Connect (FAC Connect) program at SXSW 2024.
Associate Artists represent us at the REMIX Summit
In January, Comfort, Dzifa, Jeremiah and Marcus took centre stage at the REMIX Summit London 2024 for the panel “Future Art and Culture: The Next Generation”.
Moderated by our Founder and Creative Director, Marc Boothe, and British Underground’s Senior Associate Producer, Dr Dan Ford, our artists presented their work to a packed audience of key players across the creative, business, technology, policy-making, and media sectors.
The panel was a great opportunity for our artists to present their work and ambitions. It underscored exactly how vital the collaboration between B3 Media and British Underground has been in supporting and nurturing diverse talent. They also discussed the use of technology in artistic work and where these rising stars of creative storytelling see the potential in harnessing future tech.
B3 at SXSW: A pivotal moment for our creative future
In March, our Associate Artists got the chance of a lifetime to showcase their projects at SXSW, the Austin festival of film, interactive media, and music.
As part of Future Art and Culture Connect, our artists got to turn the mirror back on their project pitches, demos and prototypes – developed with the help of B3 Media – over four days of thought-provoking discussions, immersive events, and networking sessions with industry professionals from around the world.
We started the festival in typical B3 fashion: throwing ourselves in the deep end! Our Associate Artists were up for the challenge, appearing as participants in the UK Immersive panel session at the FAC Connect XR launch event, where they walked an international audience of XR practitioners and enthusiasts through their projects and the inspiration behind them.
Comfort Arthur’s interactive short film and VR experience, “Unwanted Guests”, is an immersive journey that leverages the power of virtual reality to illuminate the often-overlooked struggles of Black men’s mental health.
Marcus Joseph’s “Jazz Maze VR” is an interactive, immersive comic book experience that illuminates the power of jazz. Inspired by his own journey,
it explores themes of oppression and liberation through storytelling, music, and spoken word.
Jeremiah Brown’s immersive digital archive, “LIKKLE Archive XR” preserves the stories of Black British Caribbean Elders.
Dzifa Benson’s “Exhibition of a Real Life Wonder” is a first-person VR experience that invites users into the experiences of the historical figure Saartjie Baartman, also known as the Hottentot Venus.
Putting a project up for critique isn’t easy for any artist, let alone those showing early-stage work, but we’re proud of Comfort, Dzifa, Jeremiah and Marcus for not letting fear get in their way. For Dzifa, presenting at SXSW was a great way to break the ice with people who had already seen her talk about her work.
Finding creative meaning through exploration
Each artist had a unique take on the festival. “It was within the immersive realms of VR that I discovered a profound sense of creative liberation,” reflects Marcus, who felt “filled with gratitude for the experiences shared and the connections made.”
More than one artist recognised the enormity of the festival: “I was mesmerised by the diversity of XR projects on display,” shares Comfort Arthur. “It was inspiring to see how XR technology could tackle important issues, sparking a fire within me to do the same for underrepresented communities.”
Our artists cited several personal highlights from the festival. “Soul Paint” was a stand-out project for all participants because of its clever use of audio-visual tech to help users capture both voice and painting.
Marcus said of the work, “It was a moment of pure artistic freedom.” Dzifa also enjoyed “Soul Paint”, adding that “each new XR experience I tried added to the layers of my understanding of how I could shape my own project.
Darren Emerson’s ‘Letters from Drancy’ was enlightening as a documentary VR experience. I was struck by how cathartic it was, despite its traumatic source material.” The message of “Letters from Drancy”, which spotlights Holocaust survivor Marion Deichmann, also struck a chord with Comfort, who says that “meeting her [Marion] in person was a poignant reminder of the power of storytelling and the resilience of the human spirit.”
The group also managed to find time to enjoy Austin together and make new friends. “I made so many connections at SXSW 2024,” says Dzifa. Comfort adds: “The true highlight? The unforgettable company. Their energy added an extra layer of magic to an already unforgettable journey.”
Storytelling and responsibility in the digital age
This is B3’s second visit to SXSW and one of the reasons we find the festival such an essential for our Associate Artists is how it opens them up to the broader possibilities of XR and storytelling.
Marcus says: “SXSW 2024 will forever be etched in my memory as a whirlwind of inspiration, innovation, and endless networking opportunities.”
For Dzifa, SXSW helped her recalibrate her project’s premise: “My project may have started as a way to counter the reductive way black women are viewed in society, but my trip to SXSW has since thrown my ideas into even sharper relief. Now, I think of my project more as an ‘empathy machine’.”
We were thrilled that Comfort, Dzifa, Jeremiah and Marcus returned home invigorated to start the next phase of their projects. Storytelling in the digital age has the potential to go global quickly, and B3 knows as well as any creative organisation that we have a responsibility to make our stories matter.
As Jeremiah puts so well: ”Technology is the means by which we can mould our future realities. It’s therefore important that this is a collective human endeavour. We can’t centre humanity if large portions of it go unrepresented. I want to see more people who look like me shaping our future realities.”
Future Art and Culture is produced by British Underground and Arts Council England with partnership support from the British Council.