John C. Mack

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John C. Mack
Alma mater Duke University
Occupation(s)Photographer, writer

John C. Mack is an American artist, writer, and photographer. In 2021, he founded Life Calling, a not-for-profit organization to help people live fulfilled lives in the digital age while retaining humanity and personal autonomy.

Contents

Career

Early career

Mack served as production assistant in Antarctica on the IMAX documentary film The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition , and began shooting photography thereafter. [1] 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.

Life Calling Initiative

In 2021, Mack founded the Life Calling Initiative, a not-for-profit organization responding to an increasing reliance on technology, and the challenges this reliance presents to people. The organization's mission is to preserve people's humanity by developing educational strategies to avert dangers of the Digital Age. [2] This is achieved through awareness campaigns, education, art, lectures, and programming.

A Species Between Worlds

One project of the Life Calling Initiative was A Species Between Worlds, an interactive immersive exhibition of artworks by Mack in New York City in 2022. A Species Between Worlds is a gamified examination of the intersection of humanity and technology. [3] Mack was inspired by the Pokémon Go craze and YouTube footage which captured a "Pokémon stampede" in Taipei in 2016. [4] A Species Between Worlds uses augmented-reality (AR) artwork from Pokémon GO spliced with Mack's photography. [3] Mack spent five years photographing the seven wonders of the natural world as well as over 50 national parks. The exhibition used this artwork and an application which guides visitors through a gamified psychological exploration framed by the artifice of the Pokémon Go interface.

Revealing Mexico

Revealing Mexico was released in 2010 and exhibited in Rockefeller Center's Channel Gardens in New York City that year. Mack photographed everyday Mexican life for its celebrations of 2010, both the bicentennial anniversary of Mexico's independence from Spain and the centennial anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. [1] 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. [1]

The book includes black-and-white photographs encompassing each of the 31 states and portraits of Mexican writers, business icons, artists, academics and actors.

Other works

At Their Home: Marseille (2018) is black-and-white street photography made in Marseille, France.

Publications

Accolades

Personal life

Mack llives in Seville, Spain. [6]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "Charlie Rose Interview". 7 December 2010. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
  2. ↑ "The Illustrious New Movement Tasked with Rescuing Us from the Tyranny of Tech". International Business Times UK. 11 August 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  3. 1 2 Balworth, Jerry (20 September 2022). "Why Is New York City Talking About Pokémon Go? | Talk Business". Entrepreneur & Business Website | Talk Business. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  4. ↑ "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.[ dead link ]
  5. ↑ Kevin (16 March 2022). "The Explorers Club 50 – Class of 2022". The Explorers Club . Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  6. ↑ "The Explorers Club 50" (PDF).
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