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At the quiet, exhausted close of another SXSW, we started to develop the theory that “Spring Festival Season,” as the city likes to call it, has become much like a black hole or dark matter or something like that (if we knew much—anything?—about astrophysics, we would no doubt not be advancing this theory, but we don’t, so let’s call this a metaphor untethered from facts).
Every year, the festivals and conferences attract and pack in ever denser amounts of information, events, and people into a galactic swirl of geeks, guitars, film stars, rock stars, TV stars, brisket, and Elon Musk. Plus, at least this year, there were mayors. All the mayors. And, of course, the #dogsofsxsw (it’s a tag, who knew?).
Just a sampling of what went down this year: Mayors and other city geeks indeed geeked out (and tweeted a lot) at SXSW Interactive’s Cities Summit. Folks from Meow Wolf made Empire Control Room and Garage into a pop-up satellite version of their famed immersive experiences. Westworld fans had the opportunity to venture to an elaborate simulation of the show (which is set in a simulation, just to make things all meta), complete with shuttle trip from an “activated” Eastside Tavern (set dressed as the Mariposa Saloon) to an elaborate, interactive replica of the show’s theme park.
That, of course, is just a small snippet of what went down at SXSW 2018. We think these Instagram photos tell a much more concise and colorful story, so we leave you to them.