The South by South Lawn festival opened the presidential mansion to innovators in a freewheeling celebration of using technology for social change

You cant imagine a President Trump inviting a crowd like this to invade the South Lawn of the White House. Nor, for that matter, would it seem plausible were the Clintons back in residence in the mansion.

But on Monday the nations most famous expanse of grass became the stomping ground of a few thousand geeks, techies, nerds, rappers, funk musicians and social entrepreneurs. Or as the civil rights leader and congressman John Lewis neatly summed up the motley crew: Troublemakers in a good way.

It was the first and you have to presume the last South By South Lawn. Modeled upon and organized together with the original Austin, Texas, interactive festival South By Southwest, it brought a riot of color to the usually sedate seat of the US presidency.

As a visual statement of intent, a giant placard proclaiming SXSL was erected just in front of the mansions back facade. Around it were dotted a series of wooden benches with life-sized figures seated on them created by artist Nathan Sawaya out of Lego bricks in brilliant red, yellow, orange and blue.

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New York-based artist Nathan Sawaya sits with his figures made of lego pieces on park benches, his art series Park People. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

In perhaps the ultimate expression of the sense of liberation suffusing the Obama presidency in its final days, the doors to the White House grounds were flung open to those deemed to be using cutting-edge technology as a tool for social change. That was the theme that Barack Obama promoted when he and first lady Michelle Obama headlined SXSW in March, and it was replicated, albeit on a much smaller scale, on the South Lawn.

The president is saying to the innovators of today: You are great at making things happen, so why not use that power to create positive social change, said Hugh Forrest of SXSW, who worked with the White House on planning SXSL.

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The Lumineers perform at South by South Lawn. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

True to its festival roots, the event also featured some of Obamas personal musical favorites including a performance by the Denver folk-rock band the Lumineers, who he championed last year on his summer Spotify playlist. The crowd stretched out as the sun went down on red checkered blankets that were handed out to guests, and sang along to the chorus of the Lumineers song Ho Hey.

Earlier, the Obama team invited a number of tech startups and creative companies to showcase their wares, with an accent on innovation for social reform. Displays included solar-powered cooking equipment for developing countries, and flexible prosthetics custom-designed by engineers from Olin College in Boston to meet the physical and emotional desires of disabled people.

Among the creative booths, virtual reality (VR) reigned supreme. Thats the nascent art form in which viewers wearing Oculus-style goggles are immersed in total-surround imagery to give them the impression that they have landed in alien territory.

The Guardians first virtual-reality film, 6×9, was among three separate VR products and one augmented reality (AR) film on display at SXSL. Directed by the Guardians executive editor of virtual reality, Francesca Panetta, in collaboration with creative content studio the Mill, the film traps its audience for nine long minutes within an animated 6ft x 9ft concrete cell of the sort that houses up to 100,000 Americans in solitary confinement at any one time.

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Common: the Guardians VR film blew my mind. Photograph: UPI / Barcroft Images

SXSL attendees professed to be deeply affected by the film. Hip-hop artist Common said it blew my mind while Kara Hollinsgworth, who trains young people for political leadership roles, said it was very intense it only lasted nine minutes but I really wanted to get out of there.

Valerie Jarrett, Obamas senior adviser in the White House, watched 6×9 and declared it to be profoundly disturbing. Even though I knew intellectually I was in a virtual reality, it felt quite real. That was nine minutes I couldnt fathom how it would feel to be there for 23 hours in a day or for multiple days or even years.

Jarrett said 6×9 was an example of what Obama and his White House team were hoping to achieve in the last flush of his presidency. We are seeking to encourage technology that leads to informed change. Technology is a powerful tool that can be used as a force for good.

We wanted to highlight best practice in the hope that people across the US will look at whats happening here and engage to effect positive change in their communities.

Attendees
Attendees sample the virtual reality experience. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/Getty Images

Obama has made combating the use of solitary confinement in the US one of the mainstays of his attack on mass incarceration. America currently has more people in isolation cells than the entire prison population of countries such as the UK and France.

In January, Obama used his executive powers to ban the use of solitary for juvenile offenders in federal prisons. Despite the bold move, that still leaves the vast majority of solitary confinement prisoners in isolation under the jurisdiction of state penitentiaries.

Evidence shows long-term effects of solitary confinement can be deleterious particularly for young people. Using the Oculus and seeing the Guardians film can give folks a sense of why that is, Jarrett said.

The other main focus of the event was climate change. Towards the end of the day Obama emerged from the White House on to the lawn to join the actor Leonardo DiCaprio and climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe from Texas Tech University for a conversation tied to the release of DiCaprios new climate change documentary, Before the Flood, which received its US premiere at SXSL.

DiCaprio, who served as the moderator, drew cheers from the crowd when he opened the conversation with a not-so-subtle jab at Donald Trump, saying: If you do not believe in climate change, you do not believe in facts or in science or empirical truths, and therefore, in my humble opinion, you should not be allowed to hold public office. (Earlier in the day, Trump named a well-known climate denier to lead his transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency.)

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Barack Obama discusses climate change with scientist Katharine Hayhoe and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

During the discussion, Obama framed climate change as a looming national security threat and suggested climate deniers lack patriotism. He noted that droughts and changing weather patterns had the potential to displace hundreds of millions of people in vulnerable countries, exacerbating the refugee crisis and sparking new international conflicts. He cited early research suggesting that drought in Syria may have contributed to the countrys extreme civil unrest.

Obama suggested Republicans who dont take climate change seriously are out of sync with the nations military leaders. We have members of Congress who scoff at climate change at the same time as they are saluting, wearing flag pins and extolling their patriotism, he said. Theyre not paying attention to our joint chiefs of staff and the Pentagon, who are saying that this is one of the most significant national security threats that we face in the next 50 years.

With less than four months to go before the Obama era officially comes to an end, the president and his inner coterie are clearly already contemplating life after the White House. The president is very interested in building momentum outside Washington through change that becomes sustainable. That comes from people, building from the ground up, Jarrett told the Guardian.

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Participants write suggestions on the To Do board during the South by South Lawn event at the White House. Photograph: UPI / Barcroft Images

John Lewis, who proudly invoked his record of having been jailed 40 times in the 1960s during the civil rights movement and five more times since he became a member of Congress in 1987, exhorted the young South Lawn invaders to become the non-violent change-makers of the new generation.

We didnt have the internet, we didnt have fax machines, we didnt have social media, he said just a stones throw from the virtual and augmented reality booths. But through the actions of thousands of young people in America we made change happen, and now its your turn to pick up where we left off.

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