SXSW London 2026 kicks off on Monday, bringing a series of keynote presentations, panel discussions, film screenings, music events and visual arts performances to the British capital. During its inaugural edition last year, more than 20,000 visitors attended the fair, with organizers counting people from more than 80 different countries.
Katie Arnander, Chief Programming Officer at SXSW London, and her team have once again brought together a very British, or even London, spirit to go with the spirit of SXSW. “It has Austin DNA in the model, but it also has a London touch,” she says. THR. “Because London, of course, is very different from Austin. So, we have this great mix of programming from conferences, screen, music and also some visual arts because we’re here in London. It’s about exploring, learning, trying new things and exchanging yourself.”
“Spain in Transmission: New Digital Work”, which highlights the artistic part of the program, gives you this opportunity by bringing together four artists, Enrique Agudo, Felipe Kostec, Jesú Moratil and Marina Núñez. “Although Spain celebrates cultural icons, from Goya and Velázquez to Dali and Picasso, the country has also become a hub of innovation and produced a new generation of artists who are embracing digital tools as the focus of their production,” explains SXSW London’s website, emphasizing that the event is “committed to exploring the challenges and opportunities of technology in the creative industries.”
In the same vein, artificial intelligence and robotics, and how they should change different parts of life, are topics on the SXSW London 2026 conference calendar. These were the topics that kept emerging in the curation process. So, the question wasn’t really about how to approach AI. “My question is: What doesn’t involve AI now?” Arnander shared. “AI is now a proprietary tool that impacts everything from editors, filmmakers, musicians and other creatives to the R&D of new medicines and the workplace. So, everything is about AI now. Anything we talk about has an AI feel to it. And the discussion everyone is having is, ‘How is AI going to change my world?’
She adds that SXSW London discussions for creatives will naturally include questions like “Will I use these AI tools for authoring, or how will I integrate them into my practice, so I can use them as a tool rather than being controlled by them?”
Speaking of protecting yourself from AI: Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, will present Charlie, an AI personal assistant built on the open web standard that he created to put people in control of their data. “Charlie acts as your advocate and gatekeeper to the AI tools you already use,” notes the SXSW preview in London.
Meanwhile, the focus will be on robotics in sessions such as one titled “A robot enters the office…” Nathan Wallace, Head of Robotics at NextGen Ri, the UK partner of Unitree Robotics, will explore what happens “when humanoid robots move out of the factory floor and into the spaces where we work, interact, and build our livelihoods” – and will bring his Unitree G1 humanoid robot with him to the stage. Likewise, a panel will discuss the topic: “Seeing is believing: the vision behind human and robotic artificial intelligence.”
“We call this the future in practice,” explains Arnander. “What does it look like to live in the future?”
A different kind of tech discussion you can expect at SXSW London will be about the power of tech giants and Tech Bros. “The theme that emerged was this idea of how technological feudalism and media have changed the way people communicate and run political campaigns, for example, or how they communicate with their different audiences and groups, and how that can shape influence and politics,” Arnander says. THR. “And we need to look no further than President Trump to see how AI is actually shaping much of the way he communicates with his audiences and followers as well.”
If just thinking about political divisions gives you a headache, mental health and issues related to dealing with the state of the planet are also a recurring topic across the SXSW London conference schedule. “This year, there are a lot of sessions on mental health and how to deal with the world we live in, especially children and social media, including what we should share, and what we should not share,” highlights the Head of Programs.
Case in point: a session titled “Weighed with Ruby Wax.” “We have Ruby Wax, who is an actress and writer, but she also trained and speaks a lot about mental health,” Arnander says. In fact, Wax earned a master’s degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from the University of Oxford.
What helps mental health more than connections and community?! In line with this, SXSW London has expanded its networking and mentoring offerings this year, with over 120 mentors. “We have a lot of networking and mentoring sessions, because what we heard last year is that people are coming to these events in real life to meet each other and discover and share ideas and discover new things that they might not know about,” Arnander says. THR. “And so are we [answered that demand by] Prepare specific communication sessions. We have over 120 one-on-one mentors in 20-minute sessions. It’s like speed dating, you can book it through the app, and it’s much better this year.
Plus, there is of course the social aspect of London. “We have many open parties that our delegates can attend,” Arnander concludes. “So, we’re all about communication this year.”
