Biography

Kevin Mack is a pioneer of immersive art, computer graphics and visual effects. Mack received the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for his work on WHAT DREAMS MAY COME (1998). He is also known for his work on FIGHT CLUB (1999), BIG FISH (2003), HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS (2000), A BEAUTIFUL MIND (2001) and many other films.  Kevin Mack IMDB Filmography
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Mack is inspired by transcendent visions, nature, and technology. His work is informed by research in a wide range of fields from neuroscience to artificial life. 

Mack’s artworks have been exhibited at festivals, expos, galleries, and museums around the world. In a clinical study, Mack’s VR project, Zen Parade (2015), proved an effective form of hypnoanalgesia during awake brain surgeries.  Blortasia (2017) became a favorite for introducing people to VR and for relaxation and therapy. Devalaya Rupanam (2020) remains a popular VR exhibit at the Museum of Other Realities. Mack’s artificial life world, Anandala (2021), was an Official Selection of the 78th Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia. Namuanki (2022), was an Official Selection of the 79th Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Immersive World in the 2022 Raindance Film Festival. ​

The son of Disney artists, Mack grew up drawing, painting and sculpting. He attended Art Center College of Design, where he majored in Fine Art, Illustration and Film. After college, Mack supported his experimental art and music working in the film industry as a scenic artist, model maker, sculptor, concept artist, and matte painter for commercials and movies.

In 1986, Mack began exploring the virtual world of computer graphics as an artistic medium. Recognizing the computer's potential for film work, Mack helped pioneer the use of computer graphics for visual effects and became a creative leader in the development and application of digital art technologies. Mack explores procedural modeling, artificial life, artificial intelligence, and emergence as tools in the creation of virtual art and visual effects. Among the first to exploit the unique capabilities of 3D printing, Mack creates virtual sculptures that cannot be produced by any other means. 

​Mack's work in artificial life and procedural modeling, used to grow the computer generated tree in WHAT DREAMS MAY COME, and inside of a human brain in FIGHT CLUB, inspired the development of tissue simulation software that has been used for virtual stem cell research.

In 2006, Mack received the title of Honorary Neuroscientist from UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine for his talks there on perception and visualization. In 2007 he received an honorary Doctorate of Science degree from Art Center College of Design for his contributions to the field of motion picture visual effects. In 2012, Mack worked with physicists at CERN on the visualization of recent discoveries in particle physics. 

Since the arrival of commercial VR headsets in 2014, Mack has focused his efforts on developing and sharing his virtual reality artworks and speaking about virtual reality, art, and the future at related expos, conferences and events. Mack's immersive world, Anandala, is inhabited by intelligent artificial-life creatures. Anandala was an official selection in the Venice Immersive section of the Venice Biennale in 2021, and continues to be exhibited around the world. His latest immersive world, Namuanki, was an official selection in the Venice Immersive 2022.