Johans

document_fw24: about johans //born in Moyobamba, Peru //B.A. Media Arts and Practice, 2025

Johans is an independent transmedia artist whose practice seeks to bridge the digital, physical, and metaphysical realms through the innovative use of technology. His work delves into self-exploration, humanity’s evolving relationship with nature and technology, and the fluidity of time, inviting audiences to engage with these themes in unexpected ways.

With a multidisciplinary foundation, Johans consistently experiments at the intersection of digital and physical spaces, challenging the boundaries between them. His practice spans sound, film, movement, and installation, evolving as it questions the role of media and its capacity to foster communal experiences. His methodical approach involves carefully translating concepts, ideas, and themes across various mediums, allowing them to be reshaped through experimentation. As a result, his works often take the form of large-scale events designed to challenge perception and provoke self-reflection in immersive group settings.

In addition to his digital sketching and design processes, Johans has embarked on several long-term projects, including films, installations, live performances, and writings such as [En Busca de la Nada] [SS25], [Manu] [SS24], and [Nuwarii: Encargo de Noche Ciega] [FW23]. His latest work, [En Busca de la Nada] [SS25], serves as his MA+P thesis project and showcases a multifaceted exploration of being, memory, gratitude, and nothingness. The project spans a collection of films, a book, four shirts, posters, a soundtrack, and an immersive exhibition and live performance, all interwoven to engage with these existential themes across different forms. With over a year and a half in development, this project marks a pivotal moment in Johans' evolving artistic practice.

Johans’ collaborative efforts include [Dear Mom] [SS24], created with Katie Luo, which was selected as one of the ten finalists out of three thousand submissions at Runway’s AI Film Festival. Written and produced in just forty-eight hours, the film broke new ground in AI-driven filmmaking, exploring both the aesthetics and emotional depth of AI-generated content. Through a poignant letter to their mothers imagining meeting them when they were twenty, the film contemplates the intersection of technology and human emotion, questioning the role of AI in expressing the ineffable.

His debut live performance, [Amazerdah] [SS23], reimagined the cycles of death and rebirth through a rich tapestry of Mesoamerican and Amazonian legends. This experimental DJ set combined ambient soundscapes with contemporary and classic Peruvian music, organic elements, and indigenous ícaros to create an evocative sonic experience. Accompanying the performance, 2D and 3D animations expanded on the themes of death and transformation, channeling dreams and visions to explore different cultural perspectives on mortality.