OVERVIEW
Ed S. Johnston (Edward S. Johnston) is a computational artist and designer whose work visualizes the passage of time and lived experience through algorithmic and spatial processes. He explores how digital systems can translate moments of perception into form—creating pathways through data, light, and memory.
Johnston gathers visual and temporal artifacts from focused journeys and reconfigures them using computational processes to reveal hidden patterns and relationships between moments. His work often involves translating recorded first-person moments into what he calls Voxelations—volumetric translations of recorded time that merge video, data and geometric form. Through these processes, he crafts immersive and contemplative experiences that encourage viewers to consider their own sense of memory, presence, and the passage of lived time anew.
STATEMENT
I use data in novel ways to commemorate and share lived experience. I explore time as a lived dimension—rendered as volumetric form. My work foregrounds the aesthetics of time—how it accumulates, stretches and connects experiences. Each composition is an inquiry into how perception and experience can be embodied through creative exploration, data and design. These forms serve as both records and abstractions of lived experience, visualizing memory as geometry, exploring moments unfolding, accumulating and interconnecting. Through these transformations, I explore opening pathways of perception: how the act of seeing or passing through a form of time might foster deeper awareness and presence.
In an era of accelerated image generation and fragmentation of attention, I explore how digital media can evoke connection rather than detachment. Drawing from meditative practices, I create experiences that invite viewers to pause within the density of perception—moments where time becomes visible as space, and attention becomes tangible.
BIO
Edward S. Johnston studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the University of Notre Dame before receiving his MFA from the University of Michigan. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally through the Lumen Prize, SIGGRAPH, CICA Museum - South Korea, Generative Art Venice and the Krasl Art Center.
Johnston is the past recipient of artist grants from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities (supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts), Jean Paul Slusser Fellowships and multiple Kean University faculty grants. His recognitions include a Viddy Platinum Award, New York Emmy Nomination, Fast Company Innovation by Design Award finalist commendation, and Kean University Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Creative Work. Johnston has presented at the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), TEDxNavesink, Codes and Modes Symposium at Hunter College and other peer-reviewed venues. His creative works and writings have been published internationally, and he has collaborated across disciplines with peer-reviewed publications available through MODE and arthistoricum.net maintained by Heidelberg University. Johnston is currently an Associate Professor in the Michael Graves College at Kean University.
Instagram: @esjohnston
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS + SCREENINGS
2025 - Lucid Voxelations, VISER, NTLC, Kean University, Solo Exhibition, Union, NJ.
2025 - Color 2025, CICA Museum, Selected Group Exhibition, South Korea.
2025 - CVPR 2025 Art Gallery, The IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2025, Nashville, TN and online. Work selected by Luba Elliott, Art Curator, Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the UCL Centre for Artificial Intelligence.
2025 - LACDA 2025 International Juried Competition & Exhibit, Los Angeles, CA. Work selected by Joel Ferree, Program Director at LACMA Art + Technology Lab,
2024 - Generative Art Conference, Selected Presentation and Screening, Hosted by UNESCO Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe, Venice, Italy and online.
2024 - CVPR 2024 Art Gallery, The IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2024, Seattle, WA and online.
2024 - D-ART - International Symposium Digital Art and Gallery, IV2024, International Conference Information Visualisation, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal and online.
2023 - MODE 2023 Summit, Moore College of Art & Design, Philadelphia, PA.
2022 - Cine y digital, XXI International Image Festival, Rogelio Salmona Cultural Center, Manizales, Columbia.
2017 - Codes & Modes: ReFraming Reality, Virtuality and Nonfiction Media Symposium, Hunter College, New York, NY.
2014 - TEDxNAVESINK Salon, Stephen Crane House, Asbury Park, NJ.
2013 - iDEAS_2013, Laguna College of Art and Design, Laguna Beach, CA.
2012-13 - The Lumen Prize Exhibition, Lumen Prize 50 Shortlist, Exhibited at International Locations:
FQ Projects, Shanghai, China.
Gallery 27, Mayfair, London, United Kingdom.
Robert’s Books, Riga, Latvia.
The Space, Hong Kong.
Treberfydd House, Llangasty, Wales, United Kingdom.
2012 - Environments: Natural-Constructed, ACM SIGGRAPH. Juried by DAC Board Members, Online.
2010 - DigitalArt.LA 2010, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA.
2010 - FAÇADE 2010, East Shard at Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia.
2010 - The Matter of Time, Philoctetes Center for the Multidisciplinary Study of the Imagination, New York, NY.
2010 - Interpretations of Time, Marlboro Gallery, Largo, MD.
2009 - Urban Revolutions, Video Arts Festival Miden, Kalamata, Greece.
2009 - ArcheTime, The Tank Space for Performing & Visual Arts, New York, NY.
2009 - Best of Artomatic, Fraser Gallery. Bethesda, MD.
2009 - Technology Configured, Ann Arbor Art Center, Ann Arbor, MI.
2008 - Krasl Art Center Sculpture Biennial, St. Joseph, MI.
2008 - Placemark, Work Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI.
2008 - MFA Thesis Exhibition, The James and Anne Duderstadt Center Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI.
2007 - Substance: Diverse Practices from the Periphery, Emmanuel Gallery, Denver, CO.
2007 - PLAY Gallery, Michigan Channel, 10/5/2007.
2006 - In Circulation, Cothenius Gallery, Berlin, Germany.
2006 - Endless Forms: Engaging Evolution, Work Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI.
2006 - Big Ten Graduate Art Exhibition, Big Ten Conference Gallery, Park Ridge, IL.
2006 - Summer Faculty Exhibition, Capitol Hill Arts Workshop, Washington, D.C.
2006 - Besucherkunst, Robbins Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI.
SELECTED AWARDS, GRANTS + HONORS
2022 - Fast Company Innovation by Design Award Finalist, Learning Category. Fast Company, New York, NY. Jury Members Included:
Bob Weis, Global Imagineering Ambassador, Walt Disney Imagineering;
Nathan Allen, Head of Global Sustainability Programs, Google;
Emem Offong, UX Design Lead, J.P.Morgan Chase;
Whitney Rutter, CEO, Local Projects;
Yuri Suzuki, partner, Pentagram
2020 - New York Emmy Nominee, Nostalgia Program Category. The 63rd New York Emmy Award Nominations, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, New York Chapter, New York, NY.
2020 - Viddy Platinum Award Winner, Video Production, Digital Creation, 64. Virtual Reality. AMCP, Dallas, TX.
2020 - Faculty Research Mentor of the Year Award. Kean University, Union, NJ.
2019 - MarCom Platinum Award Winner, Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality Category. AMCP, Dallas, TX.
2018 - Presidential Excellence Award for Distinguished Creative Work. Kean University, Union, NJ.
2018 – MakeHISTORY@Kean: William Livingston’s World. National Endowment for the Humanities HSI Grant, Role: Project Staff.
2015 – 2016 - Invited Institute Scholar Participant. NEH Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities Summer Institute: Advanced Challenges in Theory and Practice in 3D Modeling of Cultural Heritage Sites, UCLA (2016); UMass Amherst (2015), Los Angeles, CA and Amherst, MA.
2014 - TEDx Invited Speaker. TEDxNAVESINK, Red Bank, NJ.
2013 - Editor’s Choice Award. World Maker Faire NYC, New York, NY.
2011 - Grant-in-Aid for Creativity. Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ.
2010 - Trailblazer Grant. PGCC, Largo, MD.
2009 - YAP Grant and Supplemental Grant. D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, partly funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Washington, D.C.
2008 - Research Grant. Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
2008 - Honorarium. Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI.
2007 - Honorarium. Big Ten Conference, Park Ridge, IL.
2007 - Harold and Vivian Shapiro/John Malik Award. Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
2005 – 2008 - Jean Paul Slusser Fellowships. The Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design (awarded three times), Ann Arbor, MI.
Full CV Available Upon Request