“As a curator working in the rural, I’m interested in collaborative production outside of urban centres, but also questioning these expectations when working with artists in the context of contemporary art and socially engaged practice.
Where are lines of social responsibility re/drawn, who is drawing them, and how are curators navigating these boundaries to best support artists? As welfare and social care continue to be broken down, how can curators and institutions create public space where artists can fulfil their creative role in society and support the needs of communities?”
David is an independent curator based in North Wales. His curatorial practice works with artists to develop socially engaged commissions and programmes which respond to people and place, usually within regional and coastal localities. His work is interested in access to contemporary art through collaboration and mutual knowledge exchange.
He has previously worked as Curator of Learning and Engagement at Mostyn (2021-3), Llandudno and Learning & Exhibitions Coordinator at Humber Street Gallery (2017-21). Public projects include cwrdd â mi wrth yr afon (2022), an offsite rural engagement and collaborative commission between artist Frances Disley, artist collective Utopias Bach and human and more-than-human communities of local North Wales; Sense Us (2022), a hybrid mini-residency and exhibition with artist/curator Sam Metz and Eliffant, a group of artists formed through the Disability Arts Cymru, project Creativity is Mistakes; and Fruit Factory Network (2019-20), a professional development programme for visual artists in the Hull and East Yorkshire region.
