Neoliberal Loops uses multimedia to explore economics and culture (The Lode)

Thank you to writer Max Meyer and The Lode for the wonderful article covering my solo art show "Neoliberal Loops"!

https://mtulode.com/13848/news/neoliberal-loops-uses-multimedia-to-explore-economics-and-culture/

"Neoliberal Loops: Art exhibit at Rozsa" (The Daily Mining Gazette)

Thank you to staff reporter Chelsea Bossert and to The Daily Mining Gazette for the lovely article covering the art show "Neoliberal Loops"!

https://www.mininggazette.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/2026/09/neoliberal-loops/

Neoliberal Loops Dance Party

I made a 16-minute music composition from the 2008 Recession data and remixed it with 100+ pop artists ranging from Bach in 1704 to Lana Del Rey in 2021 for a solo art show titled "Neoliberal Loops" at MTU. I arrived late but filmed myself dancing to the 1hr.-20-min. track in the gallery and posted it on YouTube. 2 formats because the battery ran out.

https://youtu.be/mZfA6r5Wj30

Neoliberal Loops - THANK YOUs

I had a great time visiting Houghton and attending the opening of “Neoliberal Loops” at the Roza A-Space Gallery at the Rozsa Center for Performing Arts at Michigan Technological University! The show is up until November 6th if you are in the Houghton area and have a chance to see it:)

I also want to say ‘THANK YOU’ to the people and institutions that made this show a reality:

MTU faculty Dr. Robert Schneider and Michael G. Maxwell, the co-founders of the MTU Math and Music Lab (MML), gave encouragement and advice. Thank you for starting MML! Michael also set up the technology to loop the sound and videos and have different tracks come on and turn off at certain times of day.

Rozsa Gallery Director Terri Frew gave encouragement and support and a conversation with her was the catalyst for the “Neoliberal Truisms.”

MTU faculty Ian Raymond helped me print the Cherry Blossoms and Sleeping Jutta photographs and troubleshoot video editing for the three videos in the 3-video installation of Neoliberal Loops.

Daniel Schneider, who teaches letterpress classes at the Copper Country Community Arts Center (CCCAC) in Hancock, Michigan, taught me how to use the press and advised on the “Neoliberal Truisms” letterpress project.

A couple of students from MTU IT helped me when I ran into technical issues programming the LED signs.

Thank you to the MTU student gallery assistants for helping to install the show.

Faculty, students, and staff from the MTU Humanities/RTC (Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture) and the MTU Graduate School supported my study of theorists that influenced the art.

The MTU Humanities Digital Media Zone (HDMZ) provided a space to work with sound and video software programs to create the art.

Then graduate student Ana W. Miigwan (Lindgren) at the MTU Writing Center read a draft of the wall text and gave suggestions.

Dr. M. René Johnson, my mom, has always been supportive of my creativity and pursuit of knowledge. Because she has an MFA in poetry, I asked her to write a couple of the Neoliberal Truisms and she obliged. 

Thank you again to Terri Frew and also to Lisa Gordillo for inviting me to visit your art classes.

Thank you to MTU Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) for sponsoring the event.

Thank you to the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts for hosting the show.

Thank you to The Daily Mining Gazette and The Michigan Tech Lode for covering the event.

Thank you to everyone who came to the opening in person or in spirit.

It was wonderful to see the show come together in the gallery. Thank you for making it happen!

Emma Johnson - CV [art]

 DEGREES

Master of Science, Michigan Technological University, Spring 2026

Rhetoric, Theory, and Culture

[work toward Ph.D. from 2022-2026, passed Qualifying Exams (QE) on March 24, 2025]

[QE areas: neoliberalism, visual culture, rhetorics of display]

Master of Arts, Central Michigan University, 2022

History

Bachelor of Arts, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, 2008

English

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2005

Painting, Photography

ACADEMIC EXCHANGES

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, Germany, Spring 2022

• History, Sociology

[Erasmus+ grant recipient]

Rutgers University, New Brunswick, National Student Exchange, 2007-2008

• English, German, interactive design

Macalester College, Macalester Exchange Program, 2003

• Philosophy

Parsons Paris School of Art and Design, Study Abroad, Fall 2002

• Fine art, French

FELLOWSHIPS, SCHOLARSHIPS, & GRANTS

King-Chávez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship, 2025-2027 ($21,389)

Graduate Research Assistant, IPEC, project advisor: Dr. Soonkwan Hong, 2025 ($1,000)

Michael Schoenecke Travel Grant for Graduate Students, Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA), 2025 ($800)

Gary Burns Graduate Student Travel Grant, Midwest Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (MPCA/ACA), 2024 ($200)

IPEC Graduate Student Small Grant Award, Michigan Technological University, 2024 ($3,000)

American Association of University Women – Women in Transition Scholarship, 2021-2022 ($2,000)

European Union’s Erasmus Plus Exchange Program Grant (Central Michigan University, History Department, for

Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program grant (UROP), University of Minnesota, 2007 ($2,000)

PUBLICATIONS, ACADEMIC

Johnson, E. (2026). Book chapter. “Outlining Ideas Is a Writing Process Unworthy of Practice (that Students Should Outsource to AI) ✨ Learning to Write Involves Dissecting, Assembling, and Understanding Structure” in Bad Ideas About AI and Writing: Toward generative ideas for teaching, learning, and communication. C. Basgier, A. Mills, M. Olejnik, M. Rodak, and S. Sharma, eds. Perspectives on Writing Series , a collaboration between WAC Clearinghouse, University Press of Colorado, and Parlor Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37514/PER-B.2026.2777.2.28 Direct link to chapter: https://wacclearinghouse.org/docs/books/bad/chapter28.pdf

Podcast version of Bad Ideas About AI and Writing hosted by Dr. Kyle Stedman on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033E57HAEV2o6OI1GVtCh4

Johnson, E. (2013). “Darkytown Rebellion Installation: Viewers become a Kara Walker live action film,” Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota, Online. http://web.archive.org/web/ 20141015204932/http://voices.cla.umn.edu/essays/essays/DarkytownRebellion.html

Johnson, E. (2013). “Kara Walker,” Voices from the Gaps, University of Minnesota, Online. http://web.archive.org/web/20150422015808/http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/karaWalker.html

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

Johnson, E. (2025). “Coercive Algorithms: How asymmetries in power are revealed in Lauren Greenfield’s Social Studies.” Popular Culture Association. New Orleans, Louisiana. 16-19 Apr 2025. [Presenter]

Johnson, E. (2025). "Beauty, Excess, and the Grotesque in the Late-Capitalism Critique of Lauren Greenfield." Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Chicago, Illinois. 3-6 Apr 2025. [Presenter]

Johnson, E. (2023). “All Dressed Up With Everywhere To Go: Fashion as a reflection of identity in the Atlantic Anthropocene.” 10th International Conference on Language, Literature, and Culture. “Fashion As Material Culture.” Organized by Gümüşhane University, Ankara Science University, and University of Évora. Gümüşhane Üniversitesi, Turkey. 15-16 Sept 2023. (Virtual) [Presenter]

Johnson, E. (2022). “The French Concession as Contested Space: What aesthetics reveal about globalization in Xīntiāndi.” Arch Dalrymple III Department of History Graduate History Conference, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi (Virtual). [Presenter]

Johnson, E. (2022). “Representations of War: How the Vietnam War shifted art from abstraction to (public) intervention.” History Graduate Student Association Conference, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA (Virtual). [Presenter]

Johnson, E. (2021). “Performing Nationality: What the 1773 Boston Tea Party reveals about American identity.” Arch Dalrymple III Department of History Graduate History Conference, University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi (Virtual). [Presenter]

Niester-Mika, J., Trabalka, A., Johnson, E., et al. (2015). "From Writing Center to WRIT: Adding Reading & Technology Services to Our Writing Center." International Writing Centers Association Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [Co-Presenter]

LANGUAGES

French, intermediate (Studied at Parsons Paris, Delta College, Michigan Tech, and self study)

German, fluent (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Language Proficiency Exam, 1/16/09)

SOLO ART EXHIBITIONS

• Neoliberal Loops, A-Space, Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA, 17 September - 6 November, 2026.
  Undergraduate classroom visits at MTU, September 17, 2026
  Artist talk on Neoliberal Loops: September 18, 2026

• What I Witnessed in Palestine/Israel, Creative 360, Midland, MI, 24 Jan 2018

• Emma Johnson: Idiosyncratic Memories & Projections, Creative 360, Midland, MI, 2012

• Untitled, College of Visual Arts Library, St. Paul, MN, 2005

• Drawings of my Hometown, Minneapolis College of Art and Design; Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., 2001

GROUP ART EXHIBITIONS

• Second Annual Keweenaw Youth for Climate Action Earth Week Art and Music Festival, Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA, 2023

• What’s Certain About Uncertainty, Midland Center for the Arts (traveling), Midland, MI, 2021

• #weareallonhiatus, Artists on Hiatus, (online) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_K2aykJsh7/ Instagram, 19 Apr 2020

• The Quarantine Chronicles, Saginaw Art Museum, (online) https://www.saginawartmuseum.org/quarantinechronicle/covid-19-message-on-the-sidewalk/ 18 Apr 2020

• The Art of the Circus, Creative 360, Midland, MI, 2018

• Art-i-facts: An Unconventional History of MCAD, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2011

• Chain Letter, Samsøn Projects, Boston, MA, 2011

• Memories & Projections Suggesting the Present, MCTV, 2011

• Micro2, microbo.net, Milano, Italy, 2010

• Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art Museum School STUDENT/FACULTY exhibition, Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art, Midland, Michigan, 2010

• What Matters Most? ecoartspace NYC Benefit Exhibition at Exit Art, New York, NY, 2010

• The Sketchbook Project, Art House Gallery, (traveling exhibition) Art House Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Laconia Gallery, Boston, MA; 303 Grand, Brooklyn, NY; Art and Shelter Gallery at The Salvation Army Alegria, Los Angeles, CA; Soulard Art Market, Saint Louis, MO; Home Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2010

• 5 x 10, Creative 360, Midland, Michigan, U.S.A., 2009

• Repaired Things, curated by Anne Percoco (online), 2009

• Wonders of the World, The Artists’ Market performance art project for Creative 360, Midland, Michigan, U.S.A., 2009

• Multiplex, The Soap Factory; Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., 2005

• Member Spotlight, Minnesota Center for Photography, Minneapolis, MN, 2005

• Senior Show, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2005

• Painting 4, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, 2004

• Visible Beat, Minneapolis College of Art and Design/Sound Unseen, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., 2004

• 16 mm Films, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.

• The Art of Democracy: Tools of Persuasion, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., 2004

• The Third Annual Poster Show, Minneapolis College of Art and Design/Students In Design, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., 2004

• Box Fresh, (juried exhibition), The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., 2004

• What I Did on my Summer Vacation, The Fallout Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., 2004

• Anti-Fashion Fashion Show, Soo Visual Arts Center at The Fine Line Music Café, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., 2003

• Carry on Drawing Group Show, curated by Avantika Bawa, (traveling exhibition) Aquaspace, Savannah, GA; Seventh Floor Gallery, Madison, WI; India Habitat Center, India; Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN; Washington State University, Pullman, WA; Alternative spaces in the Badlands Glaciers; Jehangir Art Gallery, Boroda, India; ArtCore Gallery, Mumbai, India; Indian Habitat Center, New Delhi, India; Rapid Transit Gallery, Savannah, GA; Beguiling Gallery, Toronto, Canada; Student Art Gallery, University of California San Diego, 2002-05

• Junior Exhibition, Parsons Paris School of Design, Paris, France, 2002

• Painted, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, MCAD Main Gallery (juried exhibition), Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A., 2001

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

HASTAC Scholar, cohort 2025-2027

• Present at Digital Fridays and write blogs at the intersection of technology and the arts, humanities, and sciences. See profile: https://hastac.hcommons.org/members/emmacjohnson/blogs/

Northwestern University

• 2024 Rhetoric, Media, and Publics Summer Institute. “Media Aesthetics VI: Shared Grounds of Media Aesthetics and Ecology.” 15-19 July 2024. Evanston, IL.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

• Spent one week researching at LOC for the project “Monuments of the U.S.-Mexico Border: What art objects reveal about power in the borderlands” funded by the Institute for Policy, Ethics, and Culture (IPEC) at Michigan Technological University. Washington, D.C. 9-16 June 2024.

TEACHING

Graduate Student Instructor, Humanities, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, Fall 2022–Present

Instructor of Record unless otherwise indicated.

• Public Speaking (HU2830): Summer 2024 (Online), Spring 2025, Summer 2025 (Online), Fall 2025 (2 sections)

• Composition (UN1015): Spring 2023 (2 sections), Fall 2023 (2 sections), Spring 2024, Fall 2024 (2 sections)

• MonsterComp (UN1015): under Dr. Marika Seigel, Fall 2022

Additional teaching pedagogies taken:

• Digital Photography, Fall 2025

• Media, Fall 2024

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of History, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, Fall 2020

Teaching Assistant, 16 mm Production, Minneapolis College of Art & Design , Spring 2005

SERVICE & PUBLIC OUTREACH

Host, Art, Theory, & Praxis with Emma, YouTube, https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDGOy8wm3t3NG3uAGqsIBoOjguvfLwRt8&si=jOG91hrcuCIEeYO9 

Area Chair, Class Studies, Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association (MPCA/ACA), 2023-2024

Public speaker, See 1.5-hour presentation “What I Witnessed in Palestine/Israel” at Creative 360 in Midland, MI, broadcast 68 times on MCTV: https://youtu.be/LORWnYBWUO8 (2018)

ACTING

Actor, 2002-Present (including starring in MTV2/Buddy Lee episode)

MEMBERSHIPS

• Popular Culture Association, 2024–Present

• Society for Cinema and Media Studies, 2024–Present