Hello! Thanks for coming out.

A new CandyStations is rising. In the meantime:

I’m Deborah Johnson — also known as CandyStations — a multimedia artist, visual librettist, and educator. I create multifaceted visuals for stage and screen by weaving analog and digital processes, infused with research, experimentation, and rigor. 

I’ve collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Sufjan Stevens,
Sarah Kirkland Snider, Sofi Tukker, M83, Annie B. Parson, Tamar-kali,
Ray LaMontagne, Kronos Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, Bang on a Can, and Wilco — with performances at Lincoln Center, Coachella, Disney Concert Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Museum of Modern Art, MASS MoCA, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, The Fillmore, and Wiener Konzerthaus.

I’ve produced site-specific performances and installations at SXSW, Lighthouse ArtSpace, Sundance, 92Y Tribeca, MoMA, Chicago’s Millennium Park, and the Baltimore Museum of Art, with residencies at MASS MoCA, The Experimental Television Center, NYU, Slalom NYC, and The Atlantic Center for the Arts. I also present regularly on performance design and the evolving relationship between classical and emerging technologies as an artist and educator.

I’m a recipient of a New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Film & Video Grant in New Technology for incorporating 4D volumetric technology and real-time processes in Hildegard, a new opera by Sarah Kirkland Snider, produced by Beth Morrison Projects, and directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer.

A Professor at Pratt Institute, I teach Time and Movement alongside Light, Color, and Design, building responsive visual worlds that expand the synesthetic architecture of live performance. I currently reside in Brooklyn, NY with my beloved dogter, Xena.

Download a full CV of past lives and loves (PDF).

LET'S PLAY
 

Concept art for Hildegard, an opera by
Sarah Kirkland Snider.

NEW PROJECTS + PRODUCTIONS

  • Joan of the City (2026 - 2027)
    Projection design and video direction for a first-of-its-kind, site-specific mixed-reality opera. Libretto and score by Kamala Sankaram, direction by Kristin Marting. Texts by the clients of Mary's Place and MICAH House.

  • Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Life Is Scary (2026)
    Multi-dimensional light drawings and compositing; a collaboration with filmmaker Braden King on Will Oldham’s new-old-media music video.

  • Hildegard (2025 - Present)
    Artwork and projection design for Sarah Kirkland Snider’s new opera, produced by Beth Morrison Projects—sold-out premieres at The Wallis with LA Opera, November 2025, and Prototype Festival, 2026.

  • Sandbox Percussion, Canto Ostinato (June 2025 - Present)
    Creative direction and visual design with Louise Lessél for a 75-minute, audio-responsive TouchDesigner composition with custom lights and shadows for Grammy-nominated Sandbox Percussion. Produced by American Modern Opera Company for the Lincoln Center premiere and tour.

  • Eye of Mnemosyne, Rochester Philharmonic (May 2024 - Present)
    Creative direction, visual libretto, and projection design for a new work with Sarah Kirkland Snider, commissioned by the Rochester Philharmonic, inspired by the muses of Kodak founder George Eastman.

  • Mass for the Endangered (2021 - Present)
    Design and direction for the visual album and live staging for Sarah Kirkland Snider’s oratorio. Read about our collaboration on Nonesuch.com.

  • The Breathe Project (Feb 2025)
    Presenter at CAA 113th Annual Conference for Breathe, an original project developed at Pratt Institute.

  • NYU Tandon @The Yard Residency (Nov 2024 - Present)
    Artist-in-residence with Louise Lessél, developing 4D volumetric capture techniques and interactive light and shadow systems using DMX control for stage and installation.

  • NSF AI Performance Lab Panelist (Sep 2024)
    Closing panel on “Experience, Design, Immersion,” moderated by Luke Dubois, discussing my trepidatious use of AI in
    Eye of Mnemosyne to dramaturgical effect.

  • Ad Astra Podcast (Oct 2024)
    Episode 08: Space in Visual Design with Deborah Johnson.

Sandbox Percussion, Canto Ostinato — immersive projection design for Lincoln Center premiere with AMOC, featuring responsive light, shadow, and audio-driven motion.

recent PROJECTS + PRODUCTIONS

  • SWARM (2023)
    Visual direction and content design for Donald Glover and Amazon’s immersive premiere at Lighthouse LA, in collaboration with Brian Chasalow, Chelsea Hash, and sound designer Christopher Lane.

  • Wet Tennis (2022 - 2023)
    Content design and visual direction for Sofi Tukker’s album tour, featuring a hybrid of band-driven motion collage and
    3D graphics, in collaboration with 2n/Eye Garden and lighting designer Sarah Landau.

  • New Edition Reunion Tour (2023)
    Select content design in collaboration with 2n/Eye Garden, translating the band’s original music videos into new visual realms.

  • Age of Reflections (2024)
    Projection-mapped live visuals for Suzanne Ciani’s Seven Waves tour and Time Wharp at The Church of Heavenly Rest.

  • Melanc’Holy Ghosts, and Other Mothers (2022 - Future)
    Visual design for Tamar-kali Brown’s powerful, gothic performance based on three suffrage-era poets and activists.
    Performed at Harlem Stage, produced by BMP.

  • Helios (2022 - Present)
    A 14-movement celestial video design for Timothy Takach’s expansive choral composition.
    A gallery of photos can be viewed here.

PAST LIVES + LOVES (DOWNLOAD CV)

Kronos Quartet, Adrift, collaboration with Braden King (Visual Design)
Now Ensemble, Chant (Visual Design)
Sandbox Percussion, The Pillars (II/VI), collaboration with Maggie Royce (Visual Design)
Visiting Artist, Illinois State University, Creative Technologies (Live Visual Design and Performance)
Unity Technologies, Stadium (Creative Direction and Design Consultant)
NY Live Arts, Live Visual Art for Music (Panelist with Joshua Light Show and VIDVOX)
Annie-B Parson/Onassis Foundation, 6’ (Video Design)
Sufjan Stevens and Lowell Brams, Aporia (Video Design)
Sofi Tukker, RIP Shame WorldTour/Coachella (Content Design)
Echo Mine, Robyn Mineko Williams, and Artists with Califone (Scenic and Projection Design)
Ballet Dance, Big Dance Theater (Content and Projection Design)
Alarm Will Sound, “Keening” (Creative Direction, Visual Design)
Bang On A Can, Road Trip (Scenic and Projection Design)
Planetarium, Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, and James McAlister (Live Visuals and Lyric Videos)
Ray LaMontagne, Ouroboros (Stage and Video Design)
Beth Orton, Kidsticks (Visuals)
M83, Coachella Main Stage (Live Visuals)
M83, Junk (Visuals)
Sufjan Stevens, Summer Festival (Visuals)
Interstellar Rodeo Festival (Backdrop, Banner, and Sculpture Design)
Sufjan Stevens, Carrie and Lowell (Select Visuals)
TUMBLR IRL @ SXSW (Scenic Design and Live Visual)
Com Truise, SPIN + Microsoft Connect Sessions at Verboten (Live Visuals)
Lucius, Wildewoman at Terminal 5 (Show Design)
Ray LaMontagne, Supernova (Set Design and Visuals)
ETHEL, Documerica (Projection Design)
Planetarium, Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, and James McAlister (Stage and Projection Design)
M. Ward, A Wasteland Companion (Set and Projection Design)
St. Vincent, Strange Mercy (Lighting Design)
Sufjan Stevens, The Age of Adz (Live Visuals)
HERE [ THE STORY SLEEPS ], Braden King and Pomegranate Arts (Projection Design)
Sufjan Stevens, The BQE (Projection Design and Live Visuals)
Lambchop, Damaged (Stage Design and Live Visuals)
Calexico with Iron & Wine, In the Reigns (Live Visuals)
Wilco, a ghost is born (Live Visuals)