Katrina Lat

Another year, another megalist of up-and-coming artists on the SXSW Music lineup. For those of you apt to experience “FOMO” – good news! – I’ve gone through the trouble of listening to the entire SXSW lineup on your behalf. That’s 1173 artists (at the time of this writing), and several hours of my life that I will never get back. Here are 50 artists we’re excited to see at SXSW 2024.

In Secret City’s latest show, The Wedding Party (based on Canadian Caper’s 2016 show, Night at the Wedding,) the audience is invited to the wedding of Jack Rogers and his puzzle-loving bride, Norah Lane. While enroute to the venue in my cocktail dress, I found myself confronted with the first puzzle of the evening — explaining to my Uber driver that I was going to a wedding, but that it was a fake escape room-inspired wedding.

As an immersive horror opera adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s works, Tales of the Grotesque doesn’t rely on jump scares or traditional frights like your typical Halloween haunt. Instead, it explores a nuanced type of horror — the supernatural was present, but our real antagonist was the madness seemingly sane people might work themselves into.

A 7-hour participatory video game can be a tough sell — something I realized for myself as I tried, and failed, to convince a friend to join me for a “participatory performance that follows the epic journey of unemployed asses as they navigate the perils of a post-Industrial society in which they’ve been made redundant.” But, for those willing to take the leap, asses.masses is a delightful and thought-provoking adventure in which the experience of the characters onscreen becomes mirrored by the audience.

The stage is set… and it’s devoid of anything of interest save for an out-of-place looking printer, a pile of wooden blocks, and a large black screen with white text. It’s quickly apparent that there are no actors in the room. Instead, through this projected text, us audience members are transformed into the cast and crew: creating the set design, acting out the parts, and — in my case — becoming unwittingly written into the show itself.

Secret City Adventures is one of the largest immersive producers in Toronto, so despite my reservations about last year’s Zombie Apocalypse show, I was excited when they announced that a revamped version of the show would be coming back this year.

The Vancouver Film Festival’s VIFF Live series consists of live performances that exist at the convergence of cinema and other artistic media. The first event of this series, Machine Folklore, came from Taiwanese interdisciplinary new media art collectives Software2050 & NAXS FUTURE.

Illuminarium, known for its 360° immersive shows in Atlanta and Las Vegas, is traveling across the border to Toronto. Taking up residence in a 13,500-square-foot complex in the historic Distillery District, it’s the second permanent large-scale immersive space in the city, after Lighthouse Immersive. In conjunction with local Toronto-based immersive studio, Secret Location, Illuminarium aims to deliver “Virtual Reality, without the glasses.”

Despite disbanding 40+ years ago, ABBA remains one of the most recognizable names in popular music. The Swedish quartet has fielded many reunion requests, including a $1B USD offer in 2000, and gone on record stating “there is simply no motivation to re-group.” As such, there’s an understandable hype surrounding the ABBA Voyage virtual concert.

For its 2023 edition, 3,553 shows graced 288 venues all across the city — transforming the medieval streets of the Scottish capital into a bustling hub of creativity. Here are my fifteen favorite immersive shows from the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe (including a few in the Edinburgh International Festival):

In 1947, a post-WW2 Europe came together to celebrate the arts at the newly formed Edinburgh International Festival. Eight theatre companies who had not been invited decided to show up anyway, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was created — the first-ever “Fringe Festival.” Since then, cities around the world have formed their own versions of the Fringe, but the original remains the largest. In fact, it holds the record as the largest performing arts festival in the world.

Much has been written about immersive art exhibitions and their place in the immersive landscape. Thus, I visited OASIS Immersion, Canada’s largest immersive venue, with a mix of interest and apprehension. However, Sweet Folie, OASIS Immersive Studio’s collaboration with Montreal-based creative studio Colegram, is quick to differentiate itself from the usual cadre of immersive art experiences.

The PHI Centre’s latest exhibition, Sex, Data and Desire explores how technology influences and transforms our emotional and sexual lives.

For a few weeks, Toronto’s historic Cambell House is being transported back to the 1960s for a very special dinner party. Dinner Is Served, the latest creation from Toronto-native Kristen Carcone, is an immersive dance production in which the audience becomes privy to the intrigue, passion, and sorrow of a colorful cast of characters.

Once upon a time, we debated over whether video games could be art.

No Save Points, the latest immersive production from Outside the March, has turned this question on its head. Could art, specifically a play, be a video game?

Since 2009, Où tu vas quand tu dors en marchant…?, has been a cornerstone of the Carrefour International De Théatre. This ambulatory experience, which showcases the talents of a hundred different theatre, circus, music, architecture, and visual arts creatives, transforms the 30 hectare Parc des Moulins into five whimsical universes.

Darkroom V4.0, presented by Mumbai-born, Toronto-based, Rangaai Theatre Company, is an immersive sensory experience bringing to light the “traumatic state of mind, loss, and indignation of mankind through a series of South Asian stories.”

The inaugural Toronto Games Week brought about a city-wide celebration of “playable arts and culture”. While the majority of the week focused on traditional video games, Nuville offered a more immersive alternative.

As I stepped into the holding area for Jusqu’à ce qu’on meure (in English “Until We Die”), a room adorned with an assortment of suspended objects — a bicycle, a mattress, a plant, a car door — while a screen projected video played on loop, my partner immediately remarked “ok, this is your kind of show.”

Secret City Adventures is known for taking iconic Toronto spaces and repurposing them as escape room experiences. This trend continues with Escape the Ghost Ship, which sees the company partner with Pirate Life for a swashbuckling hour-long adventure across Lake Ontario.

After nine days the music, technology and film marathon that is SXSW 2023 has come to a close. Here are twenty moments at SXSW that brought us joy, insight, and inspiration.

SXSW is the ultimate exercise in tradeoffs. After painstakingly listening through the entire SXSW lineup (roughly 1300 artists at time of this writing), here are 50 artists we’re excited to see at SXSW 2023.

Casa Loma’s annual Legends of Horror Halloween show has a new sister program this year. In partnership with Secret City Adventures, the company behind the venue’s popular interactive escape rooms, Casa Loma debuted Zombie Apocalypse, a new “immersive experience” haunted house.

There are some experiences that you can walk into without preparation. Archer Eland’s Textplay, in which a conversation between playwrights Tom Stoppard and Samuel Beckett is depicted via text message, is not the kind of show you can enter into blindly.

Le Petit Chef is an immersive dining experience from Belgian artistic collective Skullmapping. The show, which has graced dinner tables around the world, found its first North American home at the Jokers Theatre and Comedy Club Toronto Richmond Hill, just outside of Toronto.

It’s March 1st, 1951 and Summit Pictures’ newest star scriptwriter has been found dead. Thus, I slapped on my brightest shade of red lipstick, coiffed my hair into my best attempt at a 1950s curl, and logged onto Zoom to get to the bottom of this murder mystery.

Set in “New Troy,” Trojan Girls & The Outhouse of Atreus transplants some familiar names from Greek mythology into a modern day setting. This production by Outside the March and Factory Theatre explores themes of intergenerational trauma, environmentalism, and the various issues that plague us throughout youth, adulthood, and the ages in-between.

A Grimm Night is an engaging production with a talented cast, beautiful choreography, and a familiar yet intriguing storyline. As I exited the venue, a wave of tiredness washed over me. Apparently, running up and downstairs in chase of a trio of faeries can be a workout, but the experience is well worth the effort!...

Welcome to Respite, which premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, is an immersive VR experience. The production puts the audience in the shoes of Alex, a child with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).

While we were glad that we didn’t have to endure a second year SXSW cancellations, we were admittedly skeptical about how the music portion of SXSW would translate into a digital setting. These 15 showcases helped to prove us wrong.

As the adage goes, quantity doesn’t always indicate quality. After carefully listening to each and every artist, we can confirm that SXSW Online 2021 is stacked with a great deal of quality. Given the smaller line up size and concentration of excellence, this year’s lineup is much more accessible to those looking to do some pre-festival music research.

As the adage goes, quantity doesn’t always indicate quality. After carefully listening to each and every artist, we can confirm that SXSW Online 2021 is stacked with a great deal of quality. Given the smaller line up size and concentration of excellence, this year’s lineup is much more accessible to those looking to do some pre-festival music research.

It will be tough, and it will take time... However, there are many smart, capable, and determined individuals who are behind the wheel – people who have both a financial and personal incentive to course correct things. After all, you don’t get involved in the music industry unless it’s something you are passionate about.

Iceland’s annual Secret Solstice Festival is known for being one of the most unique musical experiences in the world, and “Into the Glacier” is one of the events that helped it achieve this standing. As the name suggests, this event literally takes place inside a glacier – the 10,000 year old Langjokull glacier to be precise...

There’s always something magical about watching a festival headliner hit the stage, but this is even more so true when it’s 10pm, and you’re dancing the night away while draped in the warmth of the midnight sun. Reykjavik, being the northernmost capital city in the world, receives weeks of constantly sun-filled skies during the Summer Solstice. This midnight sun phenomenon acts as the backdrop to the city’s annual Secret Solstice Festival.

5600 years ago, in the land we now know as Iceland, the volcano Leitahraun erupted. From this event over five millennia ago, the Raufarhólshellir lava tunnel, the fourth-longest lava tube in the country, was created. The tunnel regularly hosts guided tours, but during the Secret Solstice Festival, it also hosts a very special musical event.

What better way to celebrate 96 straight hours of Icelandic sunlight than with a music festival? For the past six years, Reykjavik’s Secret Solstice festival uses the midnight sun as a backdrop for international and Icelandic artists to perform. 

SXSW is fast approaching, with the festival running from March 8th to 17th in Austin, Texas, so you better get cracking on your must-see list!

Although there are tons of hit acts you won’t want to miss, you’re going to want to take some time and check out some of the unbelievably talented up and coming artists performing throughout the festival.

Toronto’s annual new music marathon, is set to grace our city once again from May 7 – 13. As a showcase style festival, CMW will take up residence at 40 venues all across the city, filling Toronto with both Canadian and international music at every turn...

"This defies every expectation… we thought 30 people would show up,” Le’aupepe exclaimed, as he looked the sold out audience in the eye admiringly....

Last night, CES Unveiled 2018, the official media event of CES, welcomed 1200+ industry analysts and members of the press. Over 150 companies showcased their products in this sneak peak into what the main show, which begins on Tuesday, will have in store.

This past Friday, TEDxToronto took over the Evergreen Brick Works. The 9th incarnation of Canada’s largest TEDx conference consisted of 1200 delegates, 14 speakers, and 4 performances – all jam packed into a single, inspiring day.

Switchfoot’s “Looking for America” tour underwent an apt name change for their dates north of the border. The “Looking for Canada” tour, which featured fellow mainstream Christian rockers, Relient K, brought some well needed inspiration to a wintry evening in a questioning and uncertain world.

Prior to her set at Toronto’s Mod Club Theatre, the ”Tour Archive” page on Kina Grannis’ website lists a handful of 2015 shows from cities across Asia – all of which never actually happened.

Danish group, Lukas Graham, is (in my humble opinion) fronted by one of the best voices in pop music right now. Vocalist Lukas Forchhammer is gifted with one of those voices that sounds better live than in the studio. High tones are performed with ease, and each note is delivered with gorgeous texture, urgency, and energy.

175,000 industry professionals. 3800 exhibiting companies. 2.6 million net square feet of showroom space. CES is the largest consumer technology trade show in the world. This is a collection of the 25 weird, wonderful, wacky, and downright ingenious things I saw during CES 2017...

They are our means of keeping connected, informed, and cultured; our memory capturers, our notetakers, our calculators, and our timewasters. Thus, when my iPhone was stolen, they way I interacted with the world changed...

iHeartRadio’s holiday mega-concert series, Jingle Ball, has finally found its way North. The music media giant arrived on Canadian soil earlier this year through a partnership with Bell Media, and – luckily for Torontonians – their star-studded event immigrated over as well, just in time for the holidays.

Glass Animals are an absolute joy to witness live. Their tunes are infectiously danceable, lyrics are weirdly cerebral, and the diverse genres they channel create a sound that is novel and absolutely mesmerizing...

To a raucous audience cheer of “Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi”, Australian’s The Temper Trap took to the stage on Friday night in support of their latest studio album, Thick as Thieves.

The evening weaved between upbeat louder affair, and quieter tunes. Having recently finished a stint on the European festival circuit, Sue confided in the crowd that it was nice to play more intimate music as well.

The four Kongos brothers, Johnny, Jesse, Daniel and Dylan, each armed with their respective instruments, took turns on lead and backing vocals throughout the evening’s set. The crowd was treated to tunes from the newly released ‘Egomaniac’, including current single ‘Take It From Me’ as well as selections from 2012’s ‘Lunatic’.

On Tuesday night, Twenty One Pilots, played a sold out Toronto show, their sixth stop on the ‘Emotional Roadshow’ tour that will bring them around the world over the next year.

One year ago, Jukely launched in Toronto. “My first of what I’m sure will be many Jukely shows,” I wrote on Instagram. After 119 artists, 61 shows, 24 venues, 4 cities, and 1 incredible year, I’ve realized just how prophetic of a statement that proved to be.

Every year, the best and brightest of the music industry gather at The Staples Center in Los Angeles to honour a year’s worth of artistic achievement. I, on the other hand, earned my ticket by lunging across a table while yelling Taylor Swift lyrics.