Jools Johnson - Aurora

Jools Johnson

Jools Johnson uses the component parts of old computers to construct fictitious or ‘impossible’ city-scapes as he calls them. Using the guts of defunct technology, Johnson creates miniature urban landscapes; the material parts that would once have been integral to the commercial activity of such places, are re-invented as absurd functionless mini-urban worlds.

In Project Object: Aurora Johnson uses the box structure of the old-fashioned Overhead Projector to contain everyday twinkly Christmas lights. These project their changing light patterns over the cities, creating subtle shadows on the walls. Johnson references the natural phenomena known as the Aurora Borealis* (or Northern Lights). The colours look artificial and unbelievable, but they are in fact very true to those found in the Aurora Borealis.

Johnson’s work is predominantly concerned with unsettling atmospheres and ethereal backdrops that articulate fundamental questions about our perception of our own existence.



*The Aurora Borealis is a natural light display, visible at night, predominantly in polar regions, caused by the collision of charged particles directed by the Earth’s magnetic field.