Hello
It is the concept of language that fascinates me the most. I see it as a magical tool capable of creating new worlds, generating new ideas and concepts, regardless of whether they are illusory or real. The language of different forms of artistic expression provides an additional opportunity to touch the essence of things, grasp the inexpressible, and introduce the public to pure experience. It holds an incredible potential for transformation, and since I do not believe in any objective ‘self’ or ‘present reality,’ I strive to keep it ever-evolving.
Joanna John – visual artist, composer, designer, and author of installations and objects. Born in 1983 in Poland. Lives in Tromsø, Norway. The spectrum of her interests oscillates around the issues of time perception, language limitations, imagination, mechanisms of memory, questions about the nature of the mind, and the possibilities of escaping from the processes of interpreting the phenomena. Graduated from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. Educator. Founder of Kiss The Frog music agency and Punkt Studio.
As a musician, she makes electronic music. She debuted with the album No End, released as an LP in 2018 by the Polish label Bocian Records. The second album Lynx (Interstellar Records, 2019) she recorded with Burkhard Stangl – a composer, a musician, and a prolific performer in the world of electro-acoustic improvisation. We Are The Alchemy (Interstellar Records 2021) was a collaboration with Michał Stępień – a member of a black metal band Mgła. Since her debut, she has participated in numerous music compilations and has also lent her soundtracks to a few film productions.
Media: video-art, public space operation, interactive sculpture, performance, painting, collage, photography, sound-art, music.
Topics: function of the language, nature of the mind, present reality, sexuality, identity, ego, transformation.
Sources: nature and culture, city walks and social changes, 20th-century magic revival, psychedelic experience, dzogchen meditation.
I find it impossible to limit my realizations to just one or two mediums within the visual arts. The multitude of forms of expression allows me to engage/tune in on many levels simultaneously. This includes multi-layered paintings that bear traces of the process and tools, where I explore the mechanisms of memory as filtered through emotions and moods; collages – my favorite way of capturing the delicate space between contemplation and the stream of thoughts; photographs accompanied by text – my means of sketching everyday moments, thoughts, impressions, and fragments of dialogue. And finally, music – which I think of as soundscapes where I explore issues related to the perception of time, while still engaging with the themes I previously mentioned. Different albums evoke different emotions and address various issues, but they all converge into a shared narrative about the mind, closing memory or imagination into images tied to sound; about experience conveyed through fragmented sentences, raindrops, or footsteps. Aware of some inevitable loss in perception, I push myself to reconstruct this dimension, often overlooked, by combining various sound sources – like analog synthesizers, field recordings, or guitars – to complement one another.
Co-curator of Trans:visions Festival in CCA in Warsaw.
In many ways (design, music or video) worked with Jørgen Knudsen, Zenial, Antoine Chessex, Jerome Noetinger, Mats Gustafsson, Joachim Nordwall, Robert Schalinski,
Wojciech Benicewicz, Alameda 5, X:Navi-Et, Burkhard Stangl, Anthony Pateras, Geir Jenssen.
Represented by High North Music.
Contact me: joanna.ewa.john @ gmail.com