XOXO and the Respect Economy

This is my third time attending XOXO. The first time was hugely significant to me on a personal level. The second was really significant on a professional level. This time, I just hung out, met a lot of people and finally felt like a part of the community instead of just some weird interloper crashing the party.

So, now I that I feel like I’m part of the club, I spent this time wondering what is it about this event that makes it feel like a great catharsis for the rest of my life. Other conferences don’t inspire such honesty; other festivals aren’t quite as good at making me feel good about my professional self. On stage during the wrap up, Andy Baio couldn’t really define it for himself, instead looking at his shoes while he talking about this “…thing.” There is some ineffable magic in this group of independent creators that fills up our hearts and social feeds with goodness.

The Dream of the Nineties is Alive in Portland

In the early days of the internet, there was immense enthusiasm and optimism for the possibilities of digital connectivity. The narrative of how that was lost generally includes a telling of the dot-com crash in the late nineties and is updated with a lamentation of how social media algorithms and content-generating giants have made it harder for people to find something really new, small, and unexpected. And that’s not even going into the corners of the internet that enable widespread harassment, abuse, and terrorism.

The nineties were also a time when the worst thing an indie band could do was “sell out.” Corporate America was busy co-opting authentic sounds and styles into its machine, thereby killing what was great in order to make it profitable on a mass scale (for example, Riot Grrl → Spice Girls, an abomination of the highest order). The story of how that changed has a lot to do with how digital tools broke down the gates of the mass media marketplace. That change sparked a conversation about how artists make money. Selling work to big companies is just one way to get there that everyone more or less accepts. It’s not selling out; it’s cashing in.

XOXO fights against the cynicism inherent in the intersection of art and commerce. It is full of small and unexpected projects. It’s also full of big players who you would totally expect to show up at an arts and technology conference/festival. But there are some restrictions on those big players that prevents the event from turning into a full-on marketplace. This is a gathering where small artists can look to technology makers to help them find a path between starving and shilling.

So, how did they do it?

Ok, that’s a bad heading cause I don’t really know how they did it, but these are the elements that mattered most to me in making XOXO stand out as a unique event. (Usual disclaimer that this is probably a little different for everyone.)

No Logos

This might not seem like a huge deal, but I think it’s one of the most significant elements that makes XOXO special. Going to an event with heavy corporate sponsorship constantly reminds you of your role in a commercial society. You are defined in terms of your value to a company. Can you make something for them; will you buy something from them? It’s an inherently predatory relationship where your money, skills, and attention are the prey. Removing that element makes it easier to see people as people and not economic avatars. It’s a breath of fresh air to not have to block out corporate visual noise while trying to focus on the humans in front of you.

This isn’t to say that XOXO is an anti-commercial or anti-capitalist space. Indeed, there is money circulating through the crowd. What’s different here is an emphasis on making friends and genuine connection as an essential part of the exchange. Rejecting logos is a way of rejecting the idea that someone needs to be striving for the widest possible audience to achieve success, or more basically, that greed is a universal human constant. Instead, sponsors are thought of as patrons and provide real value to attendees in the form of free transportation, coffee, bikes and childcare. This value is intensely humanizing. As a consumer, I feel recognized as a complex person worthy of respect, not merely a pair of eyeballs attached to a bank account.

Small Event

Keeping attendance down to 1000 people matters. Providing valuable services for 1000 people is a lot of more manageable than it would be for 10,000. Feeling like I can approach the speakers in a chill way is possible when they aren’t surrounded by hundreds of other people trying to get a piece of their time. Huge events can get overwhelming and out of control. Security, both for speakers and for the crowd, is more manageable in smaller numbers. With a smaller event, you recognize many faces in the crowd, even if you haven’t met all of them. With this familiarity, it’s easier to put your guard down a bit and get to know a new person. If you have a great conversation with someone, you are more likely to run into them again and keep it going.

Inclusivity

This one is so huge. XOXO this year was the best yet. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m more comfortable or if it’s because it was 45% female, 45% male, 10% other. I suspect they are related. Media arts and technology have never been very welcoming to people who aren’t male, and having that representation in the crowd is crucial. I was quietly excited when I was alone at one of the Social events and was able to walk up to a group of all women and introduce myself. I spoke to plenty of men too, but being able to break the ice on more comfortable ground mattered more than I would have guessed. I became less aware of my difference from the other people around.

There is still a lot of work to do to include more racial and economic diversity, but the Andys are aware of that problem and are working to fix it. Racial diversity is particularly difficult in Portland because it’s such a white place, but XOXO would be better if it was a place people of color could look around and see themselves reflected in more of the faces. Economic diversity is somewhat easier. This year there were some subsidized passes so people who can’t afford the $500 ticket could attend. It would be great to see that program expand and perhaps include a travel stipend for people who can’t afford the airfare.

Vulnerability

Vulnerability is at the heart of good storytelling. It is the not-actually-secret ingredient that makes an audience care about characters. It’s also the element in human relationships that builds trust and intimacy. By asking the speakers to focus on their challenges, on what was hard for them, Andy and Andy ask the speakers to expose themselves in a way that builds a meaningful connection. I have such great admiration for some of the people on stage, but the talks remind us that everyone is flawed, everyone struggles, everyone deals with illness and death. And that’s ok.

A sense of vulnerability is often the magic ingredient in good independent art. People who value this type of work are willing to look past poor production values and less than masterful execution because they can see a real live person somewhere in those flaws. As a creator, it’s terrifying to accept that my artistic and financial limitations are an intrinsic part of my work. I’m always striving to hide those shortcomings, but ultimately it’s that tension between craft and exposure that makes something really click.

Curation

This element is the true secret sauce of XOXO. The event is obviously a labor of love that Andy and Andy pour themselves into. And thankfully, they have good taste and the ability to attract good people. XOXO is at its core a collection of things on the internet that they like combined with elements of Portland that make it a uniquely livable place. Curation is the element that can’t be reproduced because it’s ultimately a personal expression. Importantly, not every detail is quite right. There are some speakers who fall flat, some who only talk about their work and not their struggle. But these imperfections reflect the nature of the art and technology that XOXO brings together. People are flawed. Not every idea is a good one.

Also, curation goes beyond the speakers. Everyone in attendance has be making something. There are no value judgements on what they are making, but curating the crown in this way is an important part of the experience. It means that, “What are you working on?” is always a good ice breaker. And even if I’m talking to someone who makes something very different from me, we can often find common ground in the struggle to create everyday.

Looking to the Future

Ultimately, XOXO is building a community for independent voices that isn’t shy about the need for commerce. Back in the nineties, independent artists were struggling against the corporate machine that told them they had no value. Today, the tools exist to make our own value, and that’s what this community is doing. It’s still idealistic, but quietly so. Naive optimism is replaced with the knowledge that a stroke of luck is still necessary no matter how hard you work. Back when the ways to “make it” required getting on TV, print, radio or some other one-way type of media, there were fewer voices breaking through. And while that in itself was a tragedy, the message to people who didn’t break through was that they weren’t special, talented or good enough. It is the fame machine we’ve all internalized. We all believe on some level that the people on our screens and on our stages are fundamentally different, and better, then the rest of us.

It’s not true. This whole weekend is about pushing back on that line. It’s not about finding success through a mass audience. It’s about finding your audience and making it work. It’s about finding people who are respectful and kind to each other, and building tools that enable more of that. Themes of death, abuse and fear pervaded this year’s conference. It was intensely cathartic and meaningful to share that experience with a crowd, and I can’t imagine that happening with such honesty under the glaring logos corporate sponsorship. Even when working with big players with lots of money, we can have a more human-focused economy. We can find joy in each other’s work. It’s life on a small scale when we’ve been raised to believe in the primacy of the giant machine. But that machine is broken, and even before it was broken, it was boring. So let’s make something else.