John C. Mack

John C. Mack
Born (1976-12-07) December 7, 1976
New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma materDuke University
Occupation(s)Photographer, writer

John C. Mack (born December 7, 1976) is an American artist, writer, photographer, and founder of Life Calling.[1]

In 2021, Mack founded Life Calling, a not-for-profit organization aimed at helping society to live fulfilled lives in the digital age while retaining our humanity and personal autonomy. This is achieved through a diverse set of tools and activities, including, but not limited to, awareness campaigns, education, art, lectures, and programming.[1] Among the initiatives is A Species Between Worlds: Our Nature, Our Screens (2022), an interactive photography exhibition that questions how a balance between our connection to nature and today’s growing device-dependence might be attained.[2]

Early life and education

Born in New York City, Mack earned an undergraduate degree from Duke University. In 2000,

Career

Early career

Mack served as production assistant in Antarctica on the IMAX documentary film The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition,[3] and began shooting photography shortly thereafter.[4] In 2002 he moved to Mexico to work, leading to his 2005 collaboration with Susanne Steines as co-author and photographer of the book Xibalbá: Lost Dreams of the Mexican Rainforest.[5]

Life Calling Initiative

In late 2021, Mack founded the Life Calling Initiative, a not-for-profit organization focused on responding to our increasing reliance on technology in the Digital Age, and the various challenges this reliance presents to humanity.[1] The organization's fundamental mission is "preserving our humanity in the digital age" by developing educational strategies to best avert these dangers.[6]

Advisory-board members include video game creator Richard Garriott, artistic director Shai Baitel, artistic director and executive director of Fairplay Josh Golin, economist professor Nouriel Roubini, Emmy Award–winning producer Richard Wiese, scholar of new media, art, and design Jacek Kolasinski, and development specialist Elizabeth Manko, among others.[7]

Among the initial projects of the Life Calling Initiative was A Species Between Worlds, a month-long interactive immersive exhibition of artworks by Mack in New York City in September 2022. The initiative is to publish a series of books, essays, and poetry exploring this thematic realm.[2]

A Species Between Worlds

Speaking at CODAworx's 2021 CODAsummit in Scottsdale, Arizona, Mack announced the launching of his new immersive art exhibition A Species Between Worlds: Our Nature, Our Screens.

A Species Between Worlds is a gamified meditation examining the intersection of humanity and technology.[8] Mack was inspired by the Pokémon Go craze and YouTube footage which captured a "Pokémon stampede" in Taipei in 2016,[9] described by Mack as a "mass migration of humanity".[10][11]

Mack has stated that "The exhibition is an invitation to contemplate our relationship to our devices and the surrounding world while inspiring the introspection needed to prevent the loss of our humanity."[12]

Using augmented-reality (AR) artwork from Pokémon GO spliced with his own photography, Mack seeks to highlight what he coined the "Inverse Universe", at the GLEX Summit 2022 [13] a dimension, he states, where "truth becomes illusion, illusion becomes truth; the digital becomes the physical and the physical becomes digital. Simply put, what interests me is intelligent life chasing nothing."[14]

Mack spent the last five yearstaking photographs of the seven wonders of the natural world as well as over fifty national parks in order to put together the exhibition. Spanning more than 17,000 square feet, the exhibition featured more than sixty-five artworks and a customized application which guides visitors through a gamified psychological exploration framed by the artifice of the Pokémon Go interface.[2]

The exhibition included a program of talks and events featuring Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen; a conversation with Yuval Noah Harari,[15] author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind; a panel hosted by Stanford University professors Rob Reich, Jeremey Weinstein and Mehran Sahami to discuss their book, System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot; a panel on the state of social media, featuring New York University's Jonathan Haidt, Center for Humane Technology's Tristan Harris, New York City school commissioner David Banks, and much more.[16]

The exhibition was open to the public, free of charge, throughout September 2022 in New York City.[17]

Revealing Mexico

Revealing Mexico was released in October 2010 and exhibited in Rockefeller Center’s Channel Gardens in New York City, from October 25 to 31, 2010.

Mack photographed everyday life in the country for its celebrations of 2010, both the bicentennial anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain and the centennial anniversary of the Mexican Revolution.[4] In addition to the anniversary, given the emphasis in the international press on ongoing violence between the state and narcoterrorism, a need existed to depict a more balanced and holistic impression of the country.[18][4]

The book includes approximately 175 black-and-white photographs encompassing each of the thirty-one states and features portraits of individuals from all facets of Mexican society, including writers Carlos Fuentes and Jorge Volpi; business icons such as Carlos Slim; the artists Leonora Carrington, Gustavo Pérez, and Betsabeé Romero; academics Enrique Krauze, Denise Dresser, and Carlos Monsiváis; the actors Ignacio López Tarso and Edith González.[19]

Net proceeds of the book were donated to the Sociedad Internacional de Valores de Arte Mexicano (SIVAM).[20]

Other works

At Their Home: Marseille (2018): A collection of black-and-white street photography in the port city of Marseille, France.[21]

Publications

  • Patient (A John Mack Photo Essay). New York: New York Presbyterian Hospital, 2004.
  • Xibalbá, Lost Dreams of the Mexican Rainforest/Los Sueños Perdidos de la Selva Lacandona.
    • Mexico City, Mexico: MVS, 2005.
    • Mexico City, Mexico: MVS, 2008. Second edition.
  • Revealing Mexico. Brooklyn, NY: PowerHouse Books, 2010. ISBN 978-1-57687-559-9 . Photographs by Mack, text by Susanne Steines. With a prologue by Teresa del Conde and an interview with Carlos Fuentes.
  • At Their Home Marseille. Brooklyn, NY: PowerHouse Books, 2018. ISBN 978-1576878927. Photographs by Mack.

Media appearance

  • Mack appeared on the Charlie Rose television show in 2010 to discuss his book of photographs and interviews with people of Mexico, Revealing Mexico.[22]

Accolades

  • In March 2022, Mack was named as one of fifty people "changing the world who the world needs to know about" by The Explorers Club.[23]
  • Mack received third prize in the category of Photography at the 25th Annual New York Book Show for Revealing Mexico.[24]

Representation

Mack's photography is represented by the Robert Mann Gallery in New York City.[25]

Personal life

Mack resides in Seville, Spain.[26]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "Life Calling Initiative |". Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "A Species Between Worlds". Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  3. ^ "The Endurance (2000) - IMDb". IMDb. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "Charlie Rose Interview". 7 December 2010. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  5. ^ "Exhibition Spotlight: 'Revealing Mexico,' Photographs by John C. Mack, This Weekend Only in NYC". HuffPost. 30 October 2010. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  6. ^ "The Illustrious New Movement Tasked with Rescuing Us from the Tyranny of Tech". International Business Times UK. 11 August 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  7. ^ Mack, Artist John (10 December 2021). "Announcing the Creation of Life Calling Initiative". GlobeNewswire News Room (Press release). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  8. ^ Balworth, Jerry (20 September 2022). "Why Is New York City Talking About Pokémon Go? | Talk Business". Entrepreneur & Business Website | Talk Business | Small, Medium Business Advice, Tips | SME | Success. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  9. ^ "This Photographer Was Stunned at Pokémon GO's Effect on the World & His New Exhibit in NYC Invites Us to Reassess Our Phone Usage". alinacho.bulletin.com. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  10. ^ "Machine Yearning: John Mack on Digital Desire". SPHERE Magazine. 8 December 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  11. ^ "Artist Uses Tech to Question Our Relationship to Tech". YouTube. 31 August 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  12. ^ Culgan, Rossilynne Skena. "This New Chelsea Gallery Show Will Make You Rethink Your Relationship with Your Cell Phone". Time Out New York. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  13. ^ "Charting Paradise: An Introduction to the Consciousness Positioning System | GLEX Summit 2022". YouTube. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  14. ^ Mack, John (4 October 2021). "Exhibition Teaser". Vimeo. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  15. ^ "A Species Between Worlds: Our Nature, Our Screens Premieres in NYC". 17 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  16. ^ "John Mack: A Species Between Worlds: Our Nature, Our Screens – Art". Art Plugged. 15 August 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  17. ^ "About – A Species Between Worlds". Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  18. ^ "Dr. Oz Interview". 2011.
  19. ^ "'Revealing Mexico,' Photographs by John C. Mack, This Weekend Only in NYC". The Huffington Post. 30 October 2010.
  20. ^ "Mexico Week in the heart of NY".
  21. ^ ThriftBooks. "At Their Home: Marseille Book by John Mack". ThriftBooks. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  22. ^ "John C. Mack – Charlie Rose". Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  23. ^ Kevin (16 March 2022). "The Explorers Club 50 – Class of 2022". The Explorers Club. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  24. ^ "John Mack". Simon & Schuster. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  25. ^ "John Mack". Robert Mann Galkery. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  26. ^ "The Explorers Club 50" (PDF).
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