SXSW London

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BSU graduate Emika performs at prestigious SXSW festival

Friday, 5 June, 2026

Bath Spa University graduate and acclaimed electronic artist Emika performed at SXSW London - a leading international event that explores emerging trends and the future of technology, music, film and the arts - as part of a groundbreaking showcase celebrating the future of immersive music and spatial audio.  

Presented by Crack Magazine and MyWorld, a UKRI-funded ‘Strength in Places’ creative technologies R&D programme in the West of England, the event brought together artists and technologists from across the region, demonstrating how spatial audio is transforming music creation and live performance.

Emika, Immersive Audio Network's artist-in-residence, performed a solo spatial piano piece that showcased her approach to immersive composition and exhibition. Recognised as a pioneer in spatial music, Emika has earned praise from artists including Thom Yorke and The Weeknd for her distinctive sound.

Image credits: MyWorld

Recorded at Real World Studios in Wiltshire and designed to place the listener ‘inside’ the music, the showcase featured Flow, a 360° spatial composition by Portishead guitarist, Adrian Utley and Grammy Award-winning engineer, Hans-Martin Buff, with Founder of Immersive Audio Network from Bath Spa University, Dr Ruth Farrar, as the Academic Lead. In a world-first, the performance was livestreamed from London to MIT's Spatial Sound Lab in Boston, extending the event’s international reach. 

Taking place as part of SXSW London's programme exploring the future of music, media and technology, the event highlights the growing influence of artists and researchers from the West of England in shaping new forms of creative expression through immersive sound.

Discussing the event, Dr Ruth Farrar said: 

“Immersive spatial music is still finding out what it can be. Events like this at SXSW London help move the field forward in shaping what comes next, as the West of England's ecosystem for spatial sound innovation continues to expand and evolve.” 

Alongside Emika, the showcase featured a performance from Charlie Hooper-Williams, a resident of The Studio - BSU’s enterprise and innovation hub. Charlie used a custom-built software system during his live spatial piano performance that triggered handcrafted lighting responses in real time. The spatial audio evening concluded with a final act of futuristic ambient sounds by Irish-Chilean music producer and singer-songwriter, Sega Bodega. 

Find out more about SXSW London on the MyWorld website.