Art at SXSW

The Pool by Jen Lewin. Photo by Aaron Rogosin.

SXSW creates a platform for artists to gain international exposure, and connect with leaders in the fields of music, film and technology. We encourage collaborations between artists of diverse backgrounds, and seek to work with established artists and organizations, as well as help break emerging artists.

Our goal is to showcase international artists, support local talent and contribute to a vibrant culture of art in the city of Austin while enhancing the SXSW experience for registrants.

Previous projects include The Impossible Wall Project with POW! WOW! and SprATX, Tom Sachs: Boombox Retrospective at the Contemporary Austin, PI in the Sky by Ishky, Tree by Simon Heijdens, and the SXSW Eco® Light Garden.

Art submissions for 2016 are now closed. Check in with us during the summer for info about SXSW 2017.

SXSW 2016 Art Installations

1964 – Monument to the conquerors of space*,
2012. Ink jet on paper, 43 x 65 in. Courtesy the artist.

MARK MOTHERSBAUGH: MYOPIA

On view February 12 – April 17, 2016
The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center (700 Congress Avenue)
Free Admission for all SXSW Badge Holders

A prolific artist, musician, and maker, Mark Mothersbaugh has been creating art between and beyond individual mediums since before the inception of his band DEVO in the early 1970s. While Mothersbaugh is most commonly described as a musician, Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia, the artist’s first solo museum retrospective, re-contextualizes his career through the lens of his avant-garde origins and lifelong, multifaceted art practice.

Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Myopia reveals Mothersbaugh as a creative polymath who moves easily between art and music as he explores connections between humans and machines and between the synthetic and the authentic. The exhibition includes documentation and music from Mothersbaugh’s DEVO days; prints, drawings, paintings, sculptures, rugs, and video animations; performances; musical and sculptural installations; and hundreds of postcard-sized drawings produced over the course of the artist’s career. Together, these personal expressions provide a key to understanding the history and current state of contemporary art and culture, with its hybridity, subjectivity, and fluid boundaries.

1964 – Monument to the conquerors of space | 2012. Ink jet on paper, 43 x 65 in. Courtesy the artist.