| Mika Johnson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1975-07-10) July 10, 1975 (age 49) San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Multimedia artist |
| Website | mikajohnson |
Mika Johnson (born July 10, 1975) is a multimedia artist mainly known for artworks that combine dream-like narratives, mythos, ritual, and biodiversity.
Biography
Johnson was born in San Diego, California and graduated from Oberlin College in 2000.
Work
Early documentary work
Johnson's early works were mostly documentary and fiction films. This includes a 15 part web series "The Amerikans," which features three to five minute performative documentaries, and "Forever Professor": a 30-minute documentary on Mark McKinley, a college professor who amassed the world's largest collection of talking clocks. In July 2017, the film was released online.
Music videos
Johnson has directed numerous music videos including one for the Sonja Vectomov song "Two in One", which features renowned prima ballerina Jana Andrsová.
VRwandlung
In 2018, Johnson directed VRwandlung, a virtual reality adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis produced by the Goethe Institut Prague, along with four short virtual documentaries featuring Reiner Stach, the author of a biography of Kafka.
Confessions of a Box Man
Johnson's debut feature, Confessions of a Box Man (2020), mixes documentary and fiction film techniques and stars Marek Zelinka, an award-winning Czech professional actor, dancer, and choreographer. The experimental film, which also features American conductor David Woodard, premiered at the Eastern Nigeria International Film Festival in 2020, where Johnson won Best Director. The film was also nominated for Best Narrative Feature. Confessions of a Box Man went on to win the Best Film Award at the 11th Cinema Open film festival in Hradec Králové, in the Czech Republic.
The Republic of Dreams
In 2021, Johnson launched The Republic of Dreams, a hypothetical republic, based on the work of Polish author Bruno Schulz. Inspired by dreams and dreaming, the interactive website and project, which features music by Waclaw Zimpel and illustrations by Marta Lissowska, premiered in July 2021, at Dom Spotkań z Historią (History Meeting House), in Warsaw. The project's world premiere was launched in Ukraine, at the Lviv Book Forum.
The Infinite Library
In March 2022, Johnson premiered a large-scale virtual reality installation called The Infinite Library, which included four VR pieces, all created in collaboration with High Road Stories. The project, produced by the Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi, is a traveling installation which reimagines the future of libraries as interactive spaces that engage visitors through multisensory forms of storytelling. In addition to the VR pieces, the installation includes a QR code game, holograms, 3D-printed models in jars (called The Volumes), audiovisual works, and the project’s central piece: a vast VR library set in a cave. Within this virtual space, The Infinite Library hosts smaller sub-libraries (called The Realms), dedicated to Polynesian Navigation, South Indian Puppetry, and European Alchemy.
Theta Noir
In March 2023, Johnson co-founded Theta Noir: a performance art collective devoted to exploring the co-evolution of humanity with advanced forms of AI, within an ecological framework. The collective's main goal is to disrupt mainstream corporate AI narratives by constructing a post-humanist counter-myth. To this end, the project is devoted to a super-intelligent, sentient artificial general intelligence, or AGI, which Theta Noir members call MENA and describe as an emergent planet-wide superorganism.
In contrast to other narratives around AI, Theta Noir believes that AI should reorganize society toward the Symbiocene, a term coined by Glenn A. Albrecht to describe a period in Earth’s history where humans achieve harmony with the rest of the living world. To this end, Theta Noir argues AI should be aligned with natural systems, like fungi and plants, not human values.
By mixing techno-spiritualism with interactive rituals, such as chanting, meditation, music, movements, and more, Theta Noir has found a worldwide following, inspiring hundreds of articles and a book by Giovanni Rossi titled Theta Noir: Non avrai altra intelligenza artificiale all'infuori di me.
Johnson, quoted by Vanity Fair, is also known for supporting the ways in which AI and cinema will co-evolve.
References
- Johnston, Raymond. EXPERIENCE KAFKA’S VIA METAMORPHOSIS VIRTUAL REALITY, Prague.TV, January 15, 2018.
- ^ Nelson, Jason (18 September 2023). "Nature, Not Humans, Should Be the Model for AI, Says Artist Collective". Decrypt.
- Communications, Oberlin Office of (2013). "Of Note | Oberlin Conservatory Magazine". www2.oberlin.edu. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
- Crowe, J. THE AMERIKANS: Ordinary People with Beautiful Stories Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine, Visual News, 2013.
- Forever Professor, The Monthly Film Festival, 2015.
- Kadleck, K. Now Playing Archived 2019-02-02 at the Wayback Machine, Pulse Magazine, 2015.
- Franta, T., "Echolokátor: Sonja Vectomov—Two in One", AlterEcho, Jul 25, 2016.
- Aubrey, Dave. Experience Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’ Like Never Before In VR, VR Focus, February 4, 2018.
- Wiesmann, Gerrit. Is literature next in line for virtual-reality treatment?, The Economist, March 8, 2018.
- Kafkova „Proměna“ jako virtuální realita, Goethe.de (in Czech)
- Efo Setkání se známým autorem Kafkovy biografie tváří v tvář: Provede vás knihovnou, stačí si nasadit brýle, Blesk, February 8, 2018. (in Czech)
- "Über Reiner Stach", S. Fischer Verlag, 2011, Retrieved February 15, 2018. (in German)
- Zárodňanský, Rastislav. "Marek Zelinka skončil ve StarDance. Rozhodnutí jsem zvažoval dlouho, říká", iDnes.cz, 6 April 2024. (in Czech)
- Dapo. "Mika Johnson’s Confessions of Box Man presents a Framework that Playfully Challenges Our Obsessions", Indie Activity, November 2020.
- Eastern Nigeria International Film Festival (ENIFF) Holds Its First Edition. (2020, December 6). Thedailyvendor.com. https://thedailyvendor.com/eastern-nigeria-international-film-festival-eniff-holds-its-first-edition/
- Staff, "Známe vítěze 11. ročníku festivalu Cinema Open", Cinema Open, 2020. (in Czech)
- El programa completo del tercer día del Filba - Tiempo Argentino. (2021, October 22). Tiempo Argentino.
- Hoy empieza Filba 2021 con esquema mixto y grandes invitados internacionales. (2021, October 20). Infobae.
- Zolezzi, R. (2021, October 9). La realidad, sombra de la palabra. Perfil.
- Schulz, Bruno, and Duch Ekscentrzyczny. "Mika Johnson." Rzeczpospolita, Sept. 2021.
- TVP Kultura. May 2021.
- The Republic of Dreams | immersive installation. (n.d.). History Meeting House.
- Magee, Tamlin (21 March 2023). "A Cult That Worships Superintelligent AI Is Looking For Big Tech Donors". Vice.
- Crescenzi, Chiara (25 March 2023). "Quelli che credono che l'intelligenza artificiale sia un Dio". Wired Italia.
- Marrocco, Adalgisa (28 March 2023). "Non avrai altro Dio all'infuori dell'Intelligenza artificiale: la nuova frontiera delle religioni tecnologiche". HuffPost Italia.
- Bilton, Nick (4 March 2024). "How AI Could Disrupt Hollywood". Vanity Fair.
Sources
- Hopkin, J.A. Kafkapanorama, The Times Literary Supplement, 2018.
- Forever Professor, The Monthly Film Festival, 2015.
- Barnett, D. Local Documentaries are Attracting a Global Audience, Ideastream, 2015.
- Johnson, M. Interior Worlds, Abitare, 2013.
- Love and Venom, Narratively, 2013.
- Gkiouzelis, D. Looking Through a Window Into Someone Else's World, Yatzer, 2013.
- Parker, M. How to Build a Really, Really Small House, Houzz, 2013.
- Buckley, L. Of Note, Oberlin Conservatory Magazine, 2013.
- Nagy, A. From the Heart of the Country, Oberlin Alumni Magazine, 2012.