David Pledger

David Pledger (he/him) is an artist, curator and writer living and working on the lands of the Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation.

David Pledger's Latest Articles

Factory chimneys belch smoke over a polluted industrial port.
Opinions & Analysis

‘Performing’ climate leadership

David Pledger has withdrawn his application to join the Australia Council for the Arts' Creative Climate Leadership program and explains…

Opinions & Analysis

I, Artist

NYID has always been an artistically bold arts company, but is it ready for an avatar to become the boss?

Several hands raised to the sky
Opinions & Analysis

40,000 artists’ votes up for grabs!

On the eve of the election, David Pledger argues that artists should vote for policies that look to their most…

Two hands painted in bright colours
Opinions & Analysis

Arts funding in an interconnected ecology

A local council decision to cut funding echoes Federal Government’s ongoing slashing of the arts, according to David Pledger.

Opinions & Analysis

How art intervenes in an emergency

An artistic inquiry into disaster preparedness is in its last days and David Pledger thinks it has much to tell…

Opinions & Analysis

The Time to Tell

As media cycles and social media mix the messages of our times, David Pledger argues that artists have a unique…

Opinions & Analysis

The case for a Universal Basic Income: freeing artists from neo-liberalism

The misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all.

Opinions & Analysis

30% Fair

The sector’s governance is broken and the values underwriting it are morally bankrupt, argues David Pledger. A radical reshaping of…

Opinions & Analysis

Some solutions to the world of the disappearing arts

With the Arts disappearing as a Federal Government department title, David Pledger looks around the world to see how other…

Opinions & Analysis

The arts funding drought

Consistent financial discrimination funnels arts money into richer companies, leaving independent artists gasping for air.