Argency at SXSW 2023
In a matter of hours we went from 2023 to the future. And we confirmed one thing: our capital is ideas.
We are at the South by Southwest Festival. From the southernmost point of our continent we ended up at one of the southernmost points of North America: Austin, Texas. In a matter of hours, we went from being in 2023 to finding ourselves in the future; in a tomorrow very different from the one the alarmists tend to announce. It is not the apocalypse, the trumpets of the last days are not sounding. On the contrary, new and exceptional music is playing at full volume, everything is brimming with possibilities!
One foot in what is to come
We are talking about a festival focused on what we could call the knowledge industry; a festival so prominent that it spans ten days, dozens of creative companies and a whole city packed with events, conferences, exhibitions… of multidisciplinary and intercultural exchange. Its scale is such that, from the start, we felt overwhelmed, which, so they say, is absolutely natural, but the fact is that we represent Argency, a 360 agency from Mendoza, Argentina, which cannot help feeling called out by the number of proposals that come up every second. Why? Because everything we develop day after day at the office makes us fall in love: programming, 2D and 3D design, audiovisual productions, narrative, in short… everything!
Austin is a city that always seems open to visitors, with a particular leaning toward creative proposals of every kind, and for this edition of the festival it welcomed more than 100 000 people from all over the planet. On top of that, these days it is one of the most considerable technology hubs in the United States; even more so if we consider that Elon Musk himself, who set up his companies Boring and Space X on the outskirts, has launched a utopian city project: Snailbrook, where he plans to house his employees.
We said it: everything seems to happen at these latitudes!
Art does have someone to protect it
It is worth giving some concrete examples of what this festival also means for other players in the industry. Besides talking about social media, artificial intelligence developments and technology in general, there is also a lot of talk about music, where, alongside the great icons of the field, room is given to new artists who promise to dominate the scene.
Music invades every corner of the city: stadiums, theaters, bars… Groups from all over the world share, to the beat of a contagious fervor, in almost a hundred different venues and in a range of hours that goes from 10 a. m. to 2 a. m. While we have seen established bands, such as New Order, many other bands unknown to the world —but of an impressive level— offer their compositions and build future connections.
Cinema is more alive than ever
In this 2023 edition, releases such as Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the long-awaited adaptation of the first role-playing game in history, have resonated; Flamin’ Hot, Eva Longoria’s debut feature; Problemista, the film by Julio Torres starring the unmistakable Tilda Swinton —one of the festival’s stars—, and Evil Dead Rise, the continuation of the legendary horror trilogy for which Sam Raimi returns as screenwriter.
It only remains to mention that here, on March 11, 2022, the world premiere of Everything Everywhere All At Once took place, the celebrated and impressive film by the Daniels that last Sunday was decorated with 7 statuettes at the Oscar ceremony, taking 4 of the 5 most important awards.
So, we say it with confidence: SXSW always sees it first.
Opportunity knocks once
On our list we had noted down the already mentioned Tilda Swinton and Kristen Bell, celebrated actresses; Kyle Vogt, president of Cruise and co-founder of Twitch; Tarana Burke, activist, advocate, author and founder of the #MeToo Movement; Jeremi Gorman, president of global advertising at Netflix, and Greg Brockman, co-founder and president of OpenAI. To put it in a few words, we found ourselves in the right place at the right time, the kitchen where the best dishes for the future are prepared: 20 creative industries that are the ones set to define the course of progress; the ones who will chart the paths to follow.
Even so, although it may seem otherwise, we, the Latinos, have more than excellent ingredients. While it is true that Latin America’s presence is rather scarce, the same is not true of our capability; we are not far from adding great collaboration to this kind of event, and it is something we have been able to observe first-hand, since we have come across many Latino professionals who have risen to important positions.
That is why we say that trusting the elements within reach, and staying always connected and attentive to the new changes that connectivity brings us, are very good first steps, but they are no more than that. We need that, if the entities that can help the industry do not collaborate, they at least do not become obstacles.
We cannot stop at the first steps, we have to make the leap!
An encouraging push
It is worth noting that there is a single difference that seems to us to need urgent attention. Here the funding of ideas is accessible and expected, the support for any emerging idea that may turn out to be a step forward. The budget is very much within reach of the power of creativity (and nobody skimps on it).
We must believe that we can be much more than suppliers to the first world, that we can be participants at all times. The way to reach the height we deserve is, of course, to keep working, but above all to work being smart and not charging a lower price for what we are: our capital is ideas.
And, more than anything, we must be very clear about one thing: the most valuable ideas are not subject to the market. Local creative resources, collective work and the passion for being better must be our pillars. Festivals like this one talk to us about that and remind us of the most important thing: we are not alone and even the most outlandish dream is possible.
Let’s create and believe!
