“INSTEAD OF CALLING IT WORK,
REALIZE IT IS PLAY”
– ALAN WATTS

Hello! Thanks for coming out. My name is Deborah Johnson. I’m a multimedia artist, designer, and educator who weaves analog and digital processes with rigorous research into multifaceted visual librettos for stage and screen.

I have collaborated with a wide range of artists including Sufjan Stevens, Sofi Tukker, M83, St. Vincent, Beth Orton, Sarah Kirkland Snider, Annie B. Parson, Tamar-kali Brown, Ray LaMontagne, Kronos Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, Bang on a Can, and Wilco — with performances at 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 artist residencies at MASS MoCA, The Experimental Television Center, and The Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Working as CandyStations, I celebrate the collaborative nature of live-performance, accessing a diverse network of fabricators, lighting designers, artists, and programmers to create transcendent, responsive experiences by merging digital and handmade processes. There’s everything from lines of code to piles of charcoal in this studio — if it works, use it. There are no rules.

UPCOMING / ONGOING PROJECTS

  • Joan of the City (2026)
    Projection & video design for a site-specific augmented reality opera by Kamala Sankaram, directed by Kristin Marting.

  • Hildegard (2025)
    Original art and projection design for Sarah Kirkland Snider’s new opera, produced by Beth Morrison Projects.

  • Canto Ostinato (2025)
    Creative direction and visual design for Sandbox Percussion at Lincoln Center and tour, produced by AMOC.

  • The Breathe Project (Feb 2025)
    Presenter at the FATE session of the CAA 113th Annual Conference.

  • NYU Tandon @The Yard (2025)
    Artist-in-residence developing interactive light and shadow systems using DMX.

  • NSF AI Performance Lab Panelist
    Closing panel on “Experience, Design, Immersion,” moderated by Luke Dubois.

  • Ad Astra Podcast (Oct 2024)
    Featured guest artist episode.

  • Eye of Mnemosyne
    Creative direction, visual libretto, and projection design for a new work with Sarah Kirkland Snider and the Rochester Philharmonic.

  • Mass for the Endangered
    Visual and live performance design for Sarah Kirkland Snider’s oratorio.

SELECTED RECENT WORK

  • SWARM
    Visual direction and content design for Donald Glover/Amazon’s immersive premiere event.

  • Wet Tennis
    Visual direction for Sofi Tukker’s album tour and media campaign.

  • New Edition Reunion Tour
    Tour content design in collaboration with 2n.

  • Melanc’Holy Ghosts, and Other Mothers
    Visual design for Tamar-kali Brown’s new work at Harlem Stage, produced by BMP.

  • Age of Reflections
    Live visuals with Suzanne Ciani and Time Wharp.

  • Helios
    Visual design for Timothy Takach’s choral composition.

CURATED PAST

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 World Tour/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)