John C. Mack (born December 7, 1976) is an American artist, author, photographer, and founder of
Life Calling
'' 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. 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.

Early career

Mack earned his undergraduate degree from

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. In 2000, Mack served as production assistant in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

on the

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graeme F ...

film The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, and began shooting photography shortly thereafter. In 2002 he moved to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

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 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 The Information Age (also known as the Computer Age, Digital Age, Silicon Age, or New Media Age) is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during t ...

, and the various challenges this reliance presents to humanity. The organization’s fundamental mission is 'preserving our humanity in the digital age' by developing educational strategies to best avert these dangers. Advisory Board members include

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

creator

Richard Garriott Richard Allen Garriott de Cayeux (''né'' Garriott; born July 4, 1961) is an American video game developer, entrepreneur and private astronaut. Although both his parents were American, he maintains dual British and American citizenship by birth. ...

, artistic director Shai Baitel, artistic director and executive director o
Fairplay
Josh Golin, Economist Prof.

Nouriel Roubini Nouriel Roubini (born March 9 1958) is a Turkish-born Iranian-American economist. He is Professor Emeritus (2021–present) and was Professor of Economics (1995–2021) at the Stern School of Business, New York University, and also chairman of Ro ...

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning producer

Richard Wiese Richard Wiese (born July 13, 1959) is an American explorer, the longest serving President of The Explorers Club, and Executive Producer and Host of the multiple Emmy Award-winning ABC and PBS program, Born to Explore. Early life and education ...

, scholar of new media, art, and design Jacek Kolasinski, and development specialist Elizabeth Manko, among others. Among the initial projects of the Life Calling Initiative is ''A Species Between Worlds'', a month-long interactive immersive exhibition of artworks by John Mack in New York City in September 2022. The Initiative will publish a series of books, essays, and poetry exploring this thematic realm.

A Species Between Worlds

Speaking a
CODAworx
��s 2021 ''CODAsummit'' in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

, 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. Mack was inspired by the

Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game, part of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android ...

craze and YouTube footage which captured a 'Pokémon stampede' in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

in 2016, described by Mack as a ‘mass migration of humanity’. Mack states 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.” Using 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 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''.” Mack spent the last 5 years taking photographs of the 7 wonders of the natural world as well as over 50

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

s in order to put together the exhibition. Spanning more than 17,000 square feet, the exhibition features more than 65 artworks and a customized app which guides visitors through a gamified psychological exploration framed by the artifice of the

interface. The exhibition included a program of talks and events featuring

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

whistleblower

Frances Haugen Frances Haugen (born 1983 or 1984) is an American data engineer and scientist, product manager, and whistleblower. She disclosed tens of thousands of Facebook's internal documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and ''The Wall Street Jo ...

; a conversation with

Yuval Noah Harari Yuval Noah Harari ( he, יובל נח הררי ; born 1976) is an Israeli historian and professor in the Department of History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of the popular science bestsellers '' Sapiens: A Brief History ...

, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind; a panel hosted by

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Professors

Rob Reich Rob Reich (born 1969) is an American political scientist. He is a professor of political science at Stanford University, the director of Stanford's McCoy Center for Ethics in Society, co-director of Stanford's Center on Philanthropy and Civil ...

, Jeremey Weinstein and

Mehran Sahami Mehran Sahami is an Iranian-born American computer scientist, engineer, and professor. He is the James and Ellenor Chesebrough Professor in the School of Engineering, and Professor (Teaching) and Associate Chair for Education in the Computer Scien ...

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

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-United States Secretary of the Treasu ...

’s

Jonathan Haidt Jonathan David Haidt (; born October 19, 1963) is an American social psychologist and author. He is the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University Stern School of Business. His main areas of study are the psychology of ...

Center for Humane Technology The Center for Humane Technology (CHT) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to radically reimagining the digital infrastructure. Its mission is to drive a comprehensive shift toward humane technology that supports the collective well-being, demo ...

’s

Tristan Harris Tristan Harris () is an American technology ethicist. He is the executive director and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology. Early in his career, Harris worked as a design ethicist at Google. He received his baccalaureate degree from S ...

, NYC school commissioner David Banks, and much more. The exhibition is open to the public free of charge throughout September 2022 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Revealing Mexico

Revealing Mexico (2010) was released in October 2010 and exhibited in

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commerce, commercial buildings covering between 48th Street (Manhattan), 48th Street and 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco ...

’s

Channel Gardens Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span t ...

, New York, from October 25-31st 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 The Mexican Revolution ( es, Revolución Mexicana) was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from approximately 1910 to 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It resulted in the destruction ...

. In addition to the anniversary, given the emphasis in the international press on ongoing violence between the state and

narcoterrorism Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by t ...

, a need existed to depict a more balanced and holistic impression of the country. The book includes roughly 175 black and white photographs encompassing each of the 31 states and features portraits of individuals from all facets of Mexican society, including writers

Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), '' Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), ''The Old Gringo'' (1985) and ''Christophe ...

and

Jorge Volpi Jorge Volpi (full name Jorge Volpi Escalante, born July 10, 1968) is a Mexican novelist and essayist, best known for his novels such as ''In Search of Klingsor (En busca de Klingsor)''. Trained as a lawyer, he gained notice in the 1990s wit ...

; business icons such as

Carlos Slim Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by the ''Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from hi ...

; the artists

Leonora Carrington Mary Leonora Carrington (6 April 191725 May 2011) was a British-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of ...

, Gustavo Pérez, and Betsabeé Romero; academics

Enrique Krauze Enrique Krauze (Mexico City, September 16, 1947) is a Mexican historian, essayist, editor, and entrepreneur. He has written more than twenty books, some of which are: ''Mexico: Biography of Power'', ''Redeemers'', and ''El pueblo soy yo'' (''I a ...

, Denise Dresser, and

Carlos Monsiváis Carlos Monsiváis Aceves (May 4, 1938 – June 19, 2010) was a Mexican philosopher, writer, critic, political activist, and journalist. He also wrote political opinion columns in leading newspapers within the country's progressive sectors. ...

; the actors

Ignacio López Tarso Ignacio López López (born 15 January 1925), known professionally as Ignacio López Tarso, is a Mexican actor of stage, film and television. He has acted in about 50 films and appeared in documentaries and in one short feature. In 1973 he was g ...

and

Edith González Edith González Fuentes (; 10 December 1964 – 13 June 2019) was a Mexican actress. She is best remembered for working on multiple telenovelas produced by three different multimedia companies, which included Televisa, TV Azteca and Telemundo. G ...

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

Other works

''At Their Home: Marseille'' (2018): A collection of black and white

street photography Street photography (also sometimes called candid photography) is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features unmediated chance encounters and random incidents within public places. Although there is a difference between street and ca ...

in the port city of

Marseille, France Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern France ...

Personal life

Mack currently resides in

Sevilla, Spain Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

Publications

*''Patient (A John Mack Photo Essay).'' New York:

New York Presbyterian Hospital The NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is a nonprofit academic medical center in New York City affiliated with two Ivy League medical schools, Cornell University and Columbia University. The hospital comprises seven distinct campuses located in the New ...

, 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, 2010. . Photographs by Mack, text by Susanne Steines. With a prologue by

Teresa del Conde Teresa del Conde Pontones (January 12, 1935 – February 16, 2017) was a Mexican art critic and art historian. Early life and education Born in Mexico City in 1938, Conde earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from National Autonomous Univers ...

and an interview with

. *''At Their Home Marseille''. Brooklyn, NY: powerHouse, 2018. . Photographs by Mack.

Media Appearances

* Mack appeared on

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP. Rose also co-an ...

in 2010 to discuss his book of photographs and interviews with people of Mexico, ''Revealing Mexico''.

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 The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point fo ...

. * Mack received third prize in the category of Photography at the 25th Annual New York Book Show for ''Revealing Mexico''.

Representation

Mack's photography is represented by the Robert Mann Gallery in

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mack, John C. 1976 births Living people Duke University alumni American photographers