XOXO is an annual festival and conference held in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
, that describes itself as "an experimental festival for independent artists who live and work online". XOXO was founded in 2012 by
Andy Baio
Andy Baio is an American technologist and blogger. He is the co-founder of the XOXO Festival, founder of Upcoming.org, a former CTO of Kickstarter and the author of the Waxy.org blog.
Career
In 2003, Baio launched Upcoming, a collaborative eve ...
and
Andy McMillan with funding from prepaid tickets and other contributions via
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
. In 2016, technology website
The Verge
''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts.
The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...
called it "the internet's best festival".
XOXO was held every year from 2012 to 2019 except for 2017; it has not been held since 2019, as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
History
2012
The inaugural event was held in Portland's
Yale Union Laundry Building in September 2012 with approximately 400 participants.
Associated events included live music, film screenings, an arcade of independently produced videogames, a market, and food trucks.
News media and bloggers noted an "impressive list of speakers" and an "intimate tone" missing from other technology-focused conferences.
Ruth Brown wrote "the audience was overwhelmingly white, male, middle class and educated."
2013
The festival returned to the
Yale Union Laundry Building with speakers, workshops, films, music shows, game events, and a market. Baio described it as being "about artists and hackers and makers that are using the internet to make a living doing what they love independently without sacrificing creative or financial control".
''
Portland Monthly
''Portland Monthly'' (also referred to as ''Portland Monthly Magazine'') is a monthly news and general interest magazine which covers food, politics, business, design, events and culture in Portland, Oregon. The magazine was co-founded in 2003 b ...
'' compared the event to the larger
South by Southwest
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...
festival, quoting
Matthew Haughey
Matthew Haughey (born October 10, 1972) is an American programmer, web designer, and blogger best known as the founder of the community weblog MetaFilter, where he is known as ''mathowie''.
Life and career
Haughey grew up in Placentia, Califor ...
saying SXSW speakers are "in the business of selling technologies" and XOXO speakers are "creating things". To handle increased interest while remaining small (500 conference tickets and 200 "fringe event" tickets), it had an application process with questions intended to filter out people who wanted to market to attendees.
2014
![XOXO Festival 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/XOXO_Festival_2014.jpg)
XOXO 2014 was held at The Redd, a former metal stamping facility in an industrial area of SE Portland.
Conference speakers included
Anita Sarkeesian
Anita Sarkeesian ( ; born 1983) is a Canadian-American feminist media critic and public speaker. She is the founder of ''Feminist Frequency'', a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. She has ...
. Sarkeesian's appearance was met with controversy from
Gamergate
Gamergate may refer to:
* Gamergate (ant), a worker ant that can store sperm and reproduce sexually
* Gamergate (harassment campaign), targeting women in the video game industry
* Lt. Gamergate, a character in the ''Adventure Time'' episode " Den ...
supporters, with one protester trespassing the festival grounds and
Portland Police Bureau
The Portland Police Bureau (PPB), officially the Portland Bureau of Police, is the law enforcement agency of the city of Portland, the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. While oversight of Portland's bureaus shifts among the five City ...
being called to the festival.
2015
XOXO 2015 was held at the
Revolution Hall
Revolution Hall is a music venue in the Buckman neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. It is located within the former Washington High School, and was originally constructed as the school's auditorium. The auditorium was in use from the school's ope ...
in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...
Engadget wrote many talks were "emotionally driven... centered around the difficult issues of being independent." The Guardian attributed the festival's popularity to "its gentleness, its emotive undertone and thoughtful curation, but also its commitment to supporting individual artists over businesses and corporates."
2016
XOXO 2016 was also held at the Revolution Hall and was attended by over 1,200 attendees.
The Verge
''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts.
The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...
called it "the internet's best festival," and highlighted its attention to detail, focus on diversity, and curation. A follow-up article featured highlights and discoveries from the festival lineup.
2018
After a one-year hiatus in 2017, the sixth XOXO was held on September 6–9, 2018 at a new venue,
Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Nearly twice the size of past years, over 2,300 attendees attended XOXO 2018.
The festival opened with a keynote from comedian
Cameron Esposito
Cameron Anne Young Anastasia Esposito (born October 17, 1981) is an American actor, comedian, and podcaster known for her show ''Take My Wife (2016 TV series), Take My Wife'', as well as her stand-up comedy and her podcast, ''Queery''. Esposito s ...
about the production of her "Rape Jokes" standup special.
The festival closed with an unannounced concert by
Lizzo
Melissa Viviane Jefferson (born April 27, 1988), known professionally as Lizzo, is an American singer, rapper, and flutist. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she moved to Houston, Houston, Texas with her family when she was 10 years old. After col ...
on the festival's main stage, who surprised attendees after the show by performing karaoke in the Blue Ox Bar, a dedicated pop-up dive bar created for the event. Other on-site installations included a secret speakeasy, accessible only by solving a series of puzzles accessible via telephone booths around the venue, and Dear Future Me, an interactive installation by illustrator Alice Lee inviting attendees to mail a postcard to their future selves.
2019
After experimenting with a larger event, XOXO returned to its previous size and venue for its seventh year, with 1,200 attendees at
Revolution Hall
Revolution Hall is a music venue in the Buckman neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. It is located within the former Washington High School, and was originally constructed as the school's auditorium. The auditorium was in use from the school's ope ...
. Organizers cited the desire to return to a more comfortable, accessible, and intimate size.
2020–2022
The 2020 XOXO festival was canceled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. In an interview with ''
Willamette Week
''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture.
History
Early history
''Willame ...
'', festival co-founder Andy Baio said that, due to uncertainty about the duration of the pandemic, "The last XOXO may have been the last one."
There was again no festival in either 2021 or 2022, due to the pandemic.
Outpost
In June 2015, the organizers of XOXO announced they were opening a shared workspace to "bring some of our favorite people and projects in indie art and tech under one roof" in a 13,000 square foot building in Portland's Central Eastside Industrial District. The Outpost was open from February 2016 until December 2016.
References
External links
* {{official website, http://xoxofest.com
Festivals in Portland, Oregon
Arts festivals in the United States
New media art festivals
Kickstarter projects
Festivals established in 2012
2012 establishments in Oregon