NIKI JOHNSON
Associate Artist
Niki Johnson is a percussionist and composer-performer whose practice blends contemporary classical repertoire, improvisation, performance art, and interdisciplinary collaboration. She has been commissioned to compose and perform solo percussion works for the Sydney Powerhouse Museum and Art Gallery of New South Wales, and as a freelancing percussionist she has regularly recorded and performed for the ABC, Sydney Opera House, Phoenix Central Park, and Trackdown Fox studios. A PhD Candidate at Monash University, her research focuses on co-creating and composing for new instruments made from glass, mycelium, ceramics, and found objects in collaboration with sound designers and sculptors. Her primary project, Shock Lines, with glass artist Caitlin Dubler and sound designer Natasha Dubler, explores the resonance and materiality of glass through immersive performance and installation. Niki also collaborates with clarinettist Solomon Frank in Throat Pleats, an experimental duo exploring balloons, hoses, and vacuums, and works with HOSSEI to create sound for playful gallery installations and performance art works. A Speak Percussion Bespoke Artist (2019–2022) she was invited to become an Associate with Ensemble Offspring in 2024.
