XR Artist Poulomi Basu on International Showcasing, Exhibiting After SXSW and Sustainable Activism
Poulomi Basu is an award-winning artist, activist and Future Art and Culture alumni whose work exists at the limits of art, film and emerging technologies. As she prepares for her solo show ‘Phantasmaghoria’ opening at Fotomseum Winterthur in Switzerland later this year, Poulomi sits with British Underground’s Almass Badat to shares her journey after successfully showcasing at SXSW and how she reimagines storytelling as a vehicle for international connection, cultural equality and more.
Hello Poulomi, you were part of the 2024 Future Art and Culture programme at SXSW Austin. What is the importance of showcasing your work internationally?
Exhibiting internationally helps forge new audiences and build cross-cultural connections around topics central to our lives and existence. My work deals with a multiplicity of connection, drawing connections beyond their point of origin. If we are committed to true equality, then we must challenge dominant histories and narratives and we can only do this by forging connections beyond borders.
How does technology enable you to story-tell in ways that other mediums can't?
I’ve always looked to new technologies as a means to forge new audiences. The
embodied nature of Maya, for instance, is something that can’t be achieved in traditional cinema. ‘Technology’ though, is an amorphous and broad term, the need to communicate through art should be the driver, and we should be cautious about technology as the sole driver of mediums.
So, since showcasing Maya at SXSW 2024, where has the project exhibited?
Since 2024, ‘Maya: The Birth of a Superhero’ has continued her journey, with premieres at Festival de Cannes and, with Maya, I was awarded a BAFTA Breakthrough UK 2024. Maya also won the Anidox Best VR Award at the Viborg Animation Festival and the Best Creative Experience at the European XR Awards. At CPH:Dox we were able to show the full breadth of my work over the past decade on blood politics with the installation, ‘Blood Speaks: Period, Power, Protest’. Maya has been at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and it is now going to Switzerland as part of my solo show ‘Phantasmaghoria’ and will continue to go to other museums. We also receive a Unity for Humanity Award, which has helped us develop the impact aspect of the project. For instance, we have also just finished showing Maya at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival, and holding workshops there with young people about the work. And, there is a publication underway.
“If we are committed to true equality, then we must challenge dominant histories and narratives and we can only do this by forging connections beyond borders.”
Award-winning ‘Maya: The Birth of a Superhero’ showcased at SXSW 2024
Maya was made in collaboration with CJ Clarke. What is the benefit of having a collaborator to work with?
CJ and I have forged a strong and important creative collaboration built on a shared set of artistic, social and moral values, which also make space for our individual histories and identities to flourish. Such cultural cross-pollination is important to bring a creative depth and honesty to works such as ‘Maya: The Birth of a Superhero’.
Activism is at the heart of your work no doubt. How do accolades and awards support your work and widespread messaging, if at all?
Awards and other recognition help amplify my work, they can help engender new conversations with potential partners. They can help build momentum, which can lead to new opportunities to engage with new audiences.
In regard to the practicality of showcasing, what do you know now that you wish you knew before?
Pace yourself. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
As you move into this new project, what does sustainable activism look like? How do you care for yourself while pouring so much into your work?
Care is an important aspect of my work. Finding routes towards healing and making time for this is important. James Baldwin said, "To encounter oneself is to encounter the other: and this is love. If I know that my soul trembles I know that yours does, too: and, if I can respect this both of us can live." Only by knowing ourselves first, can there be any route to healing and justice.
In the world of Future Art and Culture, what should we have our eyes and ears on?
Keep your eyes and ears on the thoughts and ideas that exist at the limits of our perception, on the whispers on the wind which can guide us to where we need to be tomorrow.
Finally, what’s next and where can people find you?
Look out for my solo show ‘Phantasmaghoria’, which will exhibit Maya and will open at Fotomseum Winterthur in Switzerland in October 2025. My work is also in the permanent collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum and will be on display until September 2025. Finally, I also have a solo show in October title ‘Always Coming Home’, at Focal Point Gallery for Contemporary Art, a Tate Plus Gallery in Southend, Essex.
Explore Poulomi Basu’s work here and find out more about Future Art and Culture here.
FAC is produced by British Underground and Arts Council England with partnership support from the British Council.
