David Pledger

David Pledger is an artist and director in a variety of media in the performing, visual and media arts.

Pledger is the founding artistic director of Not Yet It's Difficult, an interdisciplinary arts company. He built a cross-sectoral dramaturgy, enabling collaborations with sociologists, cultural theorists, scientists, computer programmers, media artists and performers. His practice interests include the body, the digital realm and public space and his thematic interests include the politics of power, sport, suburbia and landscape. His documentaries, media art, live performances, installations and interactive artworks have been presented in various locations including theatres, galleries, museums, a car-park, a stables, a cattleyard, a suburban house, a film studio and at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Produced by Not Yet It’s Difficult, his performance works include "The Austral/Asian Post-Cartoon: sports edition" (1997) and "Scenes of the Beginning From The End" (2001), the multimedia plays "K" (2002–05) and "Blowback" (2004), the contemporary opera "Cosmonaut" (2004) and the dance-music laboratory "Ampersand" (2011–2013); installation projects include (not) the next-door neighbours (2001) and "Walk In Drive In" (with Callum Morton) (2006); locative artworks include "The Meaning of Moorabbin is Open for Inspection" (2008), "Hoist" (2010) and "He Took Us To the Cattleyard" (2012). In 2004 he created the interactive cinematic artwork "Eavesdrop" (with Jeffrey Shaw). The crossover with his documentary film projects Cosenza Vecchia (2000) and The UnMaking Of (1998) and his collection of digital works on video, "urbanandsuburban" (2012), lies in the mediation of non-linear narrative. In Australia, his work has been presented at Powerhouse Museum, ACMI, Art Gallery of South Australia, Seoul Arts Centre, and Hawaii International Film Festival. He has collaborated with other artists including media artist Jeffrey Shaw, visual artists Callum Morton and William Kelly, choreographer Shimizu Shinjin and theatre director, Kim Kwang Lim. His work is featured in international publications including: Melbourne Now Limited Edition (NGV, Australia, 2013); Multimedia Performance (Macmillan, UK, 2012) and Making Contemporary Theatre (MUP, UK, 2010).

A recipient of the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award and the Kenneth Myer Performing Arts Medal for his work as a director and actor. He was also recognised by the Victorian Green Room Awards for his work in theatre, dance and opera. As a writer, he has been commissioned by SBS, Sydney Opera House, Playbox Theatre, Circe Films and cinemedia, and recognised by the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards (his play Blowback was short-listed for the Louis Esson Prize for Drama) and Australian Writers Guild for New Media Writing (Eavesdrop). Pledger is a recipient of Fellowships from the Churchill Memorial Trust and the Australia Korea Foundation and he has undertaken residencies at the Centre for Art and Media (ZKM) and the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre (Asialink).

Pledger works as an advocate for artists. He created and managed the Arts Victoria-funded R and D Cubed program (1996–1998) and initiated the PAML Pilot Project funded by DOCITA (1998–1999). Pledger co-founded the Melbourne-based International Network (2007–2011). From 2009 to 2011 he lived in Brussels where he established the IETM-Australia Council for the Arts Collaboration Project. As its director Pledger oversaw a curated, artist-led program. Pledger has served on industry and consultative panels at local, state and federal levels including the City of Melbourne Cultural Advisory Panel (2000–2002), Arts Victoria's Arts Leaders Reference Group (1998–2000) and Arts Innovation Panel (Chair, 2005-6). In 2005, 2006 and 2007 he attended the Performing Arts Market Seoul in Korea on behalf of the Australia Council, advising on their development strategy in Asia. In 2008 he attended the 2020 Summit as a delegate in the Creative Australia stream. In 2013 Currency House published Pledger's Platform Paper, Re-Valuing the Artist in the New World Order in which he argues societies function better when artists have a central role in the national conversation.

Pledger graduated from Monash University, Melbourne with a BA (Politics, Cinema) and an MA (Asian Studies). He is also a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA, Acting). He has twice held the position of Visiting Lecturer at the Korean National University of Arts (1994, 1997). In 2002 Pledger developed a whole-of-college interdisciplinary program for the Victorian College of the Arts (2002). In 2008 Pledger was invited to present an Alfred Deakin Innovation Lecture on the relationship between art, sport and science. He is currently a member of the Research Unit in Public Cultures at Melbourne University and is on a research scholarship undertaking doctoral studies at the School of Architecture and Design at RMIT University Melbourne.