BA: You’re an interdisciplinary artist (musician, filmmaker, playwright, sound designer). How does your practice influence the work you make and how do you find balance?

 JB: At the heart of it, I’m a storyteller living in the digital age. I love combining new tools with old ones and allow each story to dictate the recipe. More often than not, a project will require a crash course in some brand new skill or approach. It’s a humbling way to work, but looking back, that’s how I’ve learned everything in my career. I’m a self-taught artist who learns on the job.

Regardless of the genre, I’m drawn to the lingering, stubborn questions that humans aren’t able to answer, which in my opinion, is the crucible for myths. When a story creates a chemical reaction inside me - one that refuses to subside - then I know I’m on the right track. And if I can transfer that reaction to others, then you could say that a certain balance has been achieved.

BA: How has crossing boundaries between mediums and genres been of value?

JB: The way I think of it, you’ve got your queens, kings and royalty in the various genres. Then you’ve got your travelers, explorers and drifters. I’d put myself in the second group. Some days I discover new lands. Other days I suffer from exposure, or wake up in some artistic gutter. They say it takes all types.

BA: Does the ability to draw readily upon various disciplines allow for greater play or freedom in the creation of your work?

 JB: It’s not so much that it gives me greater freedom, it’s that working across mediums reflects my personality. I tend to understand the world by looking at it from different angles. As time has gone on, I’ve become more and more comfortable with letting those angles speak for themselves.

 When I approach a new project, I try to consider which combination of mediums will convey the most meaning. There’s no formula. Whenever possible, I try to build on what I already know. My practice is always changing, falling apart, rebuilding and evolving. I’m not trying to master a medium, I’m trying to express what I’m discovering / discover what I’m expressing.

BA: Being that you have multiple practices, do you find that there’s been a different reception to your work or has it been received the same way?

JB: There’s no apparent rhyme or reason. Artists who have a sense for how their work will be received are like an exotic species to me. I have no idea how that superpower is wielded. I may lack socio-emotional skills. I may be dodging your question. I spiral through the night like a moth with broken glasses and half an antenna.

 One thing I’ve learned is to assume that a best case scenario is possible. To me, that means pushing the limits, doing my very best and then scrutinizing the work to a degree that may feel horrible in the moment. Some projects have died the second they stepped out of the front door. Other projects took the fire escape and then traveled beyond what I imagined was possible.

BA: What’s next? Are you working on anything right now?

JB: In a few days, a VR film that I scored, sound designed and mixed will premiere at SXSW, courtesy of the New Yorker. The title is Reeducated, because it’s about the Muslim re-education camps in China. I hope that this film will raise awareness because the camps are part of a horrible, systematic effort by the Chinese government to eradicate entire ethnic and religious populations.

I have an album coming out this summer (Higher Lows), which has given me a lot of reprieve from quarantine and the pandemic. The songs and videos are upbeat, dance floor dream-reflections on my life and times. In the fall, I’m filming Third Eye Moonwalk, the story behind the work in this exhibition and my installations at Catharine Clark Gallery / BOXBLUR and Minnesota Street Project in 2018.

Jon Bernson - Bio

Jon Bernson is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores and expands the traditional boundaries of storytelling, often in site-specific contexts. He is a former artist- in-residence at the de Young Museum, Playwrights Foundation and The Space Program. Recent projects include Third Eye Moonwalk, a series of audio-visual installations, performances and readings at Minnesota Street Project, Catharine Clark Gallery, Stanford University, Custom Made Theater and The Growlery (2016-2019). TEM was awarded a Rainin Foundation New & Experimental Works (NEW) grant and a Venturous Theater Fund grant to film the project in 2021-22. Other installations include: Sound Affects (2015), a large-scale multimedia collaboration at the Sonos Studio in Los Angeles, and Beautification Machine (2014), a sound sculpture created with Andy Diaz Hope, which was exhibited at Catharine Clark Gallery and Miami Project before being acquired by the Nevada Museum of Art for its permanent collection in 2016.

 Bernson is the author of seven plays, including four collaborations with StoryWorks and The Center for Investigative Reporting: A Guide to the Aftermath (2013), North by Inferno (2015), Overnighters is Over (2016) and When Lighting The Voids (2019). Voids was also produced as a radio play for Reveal, which also aired on 485 NPR stations nationwide.

 As a musician, Bernson has written and released more than twenty albums under several names, including Exray’s, whose music was featured in David Fincher’s Academy-Award winning film, The Social Network. His sound design was featured in After the Fallout, Sam Wolson’s 2020 VR documentary about Fukushima, an official selection at Sundance. Bernson scored, sound designed and mixed Reeducated, a VR/ Ambisonic documentary for the New Yorker, which premieres at SXSW 2021.