SXSW 2021 kicks off today and, for the first time in its history, will take place completely virtually. We were due to head out last year to showcase our VR installation ‘7 Sirens’ but the festival was cancelled with just a week to go.

In 2013 we made our first trip out to Austin to see our online project ‘The Gallery of Lost Art’ win the SXSW Interactive Award for Art. It was a huge honour to be recognised by a festival that champions innovation and boundary pushing work. We also faced down some hefty competition from the likes of Disney, Cirque de Soleil and Cindy Sherman at MoMa.

A collaboration with Tate and Ch4, Gallery of Lost Art was a virtual year-long exhibition that explored the sometimes extraordinary and sometimes banal circumstances behind the loss of major works of art from the 20th century. Archival images, films, interviews, blogs and essays were laid out for visitors to examine, revealing the evidence relating to the loss of works by over 40 artists, including such figures as Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Willem De Kooning, Rachel Whiteread and Tracey Emin. The exhibition was accessible online for exactly one year, before being destroyed itself! This was the Tate’s first ever online only exhibition and was their third most visited show of the year.

You can find out more about the project here