How/why did you start exploring the relationship between language and space? Influences and intent?

It began as a pedagogical exercise. I was studying at the University of Toronto and wanted to learn more about architectural language as part of my studio research, which was working with space and representation in terms of the image. So it was intended to support my art work. I worked with fellow artist-student Josh Thorpe and a professor from the architecture department to learn habits of reading and talking about space. The quality of the language that came out of the in-situ conversations we would have was quite different from the texts I was reading for the same purposes, and interesting to me in its particularities. At a certain point I started to integrate this work into a site-based project I was working on. So the first iteration was recorded conversations played back as part of an installation. Then text-based collaborations with Josh, developed from recorded conversations among ourselves and with others, which was primarily editorial – selecting interlocutors and filtering their comments – which we continue to work on together.

What is the relationship between your writing and other artworks you do?

It seems necessary to write in order to carry forward my thinking in a certain way, which is always parallel with or completely enmeshed in other modes of working. I can’t prioritize one activity over the other in terms of my interest in the production of subjectivities through language, vision, sensation in general and the cognitive processes they entail. In any case the concern is with representation in relation to affect and intensity, and with the slippage or seepage between the actual and the virtual, the material and the abstract.

Your research often includes interviews. How does this exchange affect the project, or future projects?

The interviews always open up thinking to unfamiliar ideas and materials, and on a practical level suggest new ideas, projects, paths to follow. There is a continuity with the process of collaboration, which I do fairly frequently, where you are finding or creating a common space, and also engaging in exposure to difference, to what you don’t know, think, feel, agree with, etc… and to unknown material, not being able to count in advance what a person or situation will offer up. Something that seems to recur in my projects is the effort or process of going outside, so to speak, in relation to collaborators, the public, or curatorial propositions like yours. There’s a soft risk and contingency, and an opportunity to be social. You have to negotiate something. As with the other artists in this exhibition the work is not private or internal, it is taking place in public, or working backwards from the instance of presentation or exhibition as a component of the work.

David Court is an artist and writer living in Brooklyn. He holds a Masters of Visual Studies degree from the University of Toronto, ON, and a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Nova Scotia. He has exhibited solo and collaborative projects across Canada and in New York, with recent projects for Printed Matter (with Josh Thorpe), NY; Flux Factory, NY; and the Toronto Sculpture Garden.Toronto, ON. Court has also published widely.

 

What do you see FREECANDY’s (a multi-arts venue/gathering space/ home for artists) role as in the city?

We like to think of FREECANDY as what the offspring of a weird Paradise Garage, CBGB, and MoMA 3-way would be (hot right?). As a physical space, we want FREECANDY to be a center for artistic discovery – a place where people of creativity meet and are inspired to produce. It’s an environment we try to make comfortable for both artist and arts appreciator.

 

How does the exchange between community, artists, businesses that happen at FREECANDY affect its programming and the evolution of its vision?

Community as I see it consists of people whose day to day lives affect each other directly. That exchange definitely has an effect on our programming. We take great lengths to make sure the artists, musicians, and events we feature are built using local talent, business services, and creative collaboration with local arts organizations. I believe FREECANDY’s role in this exchange is that of facilitator. As an example, the local community can come and enjoy live music and visual art for free at our “FREE Market” events, which brings together and supports local artists, artisans and businesses.

 

How does this sense of community ownership and involvement affect you as a curator and program director?

I’m a Brooklyn boy, born and raised. I’m from the community we serve. I went to high school (Brooklyn Tech) right down the block. I’m from here. I live here. I work here. I’m also part of a larger community of artists and innovators. I belong to both, and as such, I am also servant to both. The service I do (and it’s very important to me) is providing access for my arts community into my local community, and vice versa. So that is definitely in front of mind when we curate art exhibits, pick musical talent, and choose organizations to partner with.

 

Welcoming a cross-arts approach and inclusiveness of community is the opposite of segregation in the arts. Where do you see this going? Do you think it’s a moment in time, a representation of our era, or is it part of a larger, long-term shift in our culture?

Information is consumed now at increasingly higher speeds and volume. People are bombarded with different messages, ideas, and entertainment. The world of art is no different and should be keeping pace (if not out-running) the changes in society. Going to see your favorite band perform, and then being surprised to encounter great visual art work at the same place, is an example of what has been most effective to our goal of discovery. It’s that cross-pollination that is most effective in opening the conversation between the expected and the welcomed unexpected. I think the major arts revolutions come at times of financial upheaval. The repressed global financial situation has been a quiet blessing for the arts community. It has forced people to be more creative in just managing their day-to-day lives, and in so doing, has made more people aware of their own artistic ability and/or interest. Ha! Everything is a moment in time. The question is, how long can that moment endure? Nothing is really ever lost or finished within the arts. Each era builds upon the last. This paradigm shift will just be used as a foundation for the next shift. I want to see more syncing of artistic mediums, and it’s my goal to participate in the creation of that new paradigm.

 

Originally from Brooklyn, Keith R. Gill is a graduate of Howard University, Washington DC. He has worked as a brand strategist in both the US and in Greece. In 2007, Gill helped form FREE DMC, a boutique influencer marketing, branding, and experimental events company. After assisting in the launch of InfluencerCon, Gill lent his efforts to the formation of FREECANDY, a live music and arts gallery where he currently is General Manager and Gallery Director. Gill is also a film producer and founder/editor of the digital magazine The Bubblegum Experience.