David Bobier

David Bobier is a disabled media artist who works with sound, vibration and is a Founder of VibrafusionLab

I am a disabled media artist with a hearing loss working in the experiential realm of interactive sound, vibration and sound visualization. I also parented two Deaf children with added complex disabilities. This led me into over 30 years of all levels of relationships with the D/deaf, disabled, mad and chronically ill communities from purely social interactions to leadership type roles of mentoring, educating, advocating and fighting for their rights. This experience was pivotal in influencing my path as an artist and as Founder and Director of VibraFusionLab.

The D/deaf and Disability Arts is a relatively new identified, and to some extent celebrated phenomena in Canada. Through prioritized arts funding we have seen a significant growth in first generation artists and arts professionals from the Deaf and disabled communities who are actively working toward change in the artistic landscape. But at a cost!  It is time to lay the groundwork for the next generation.

The American Sign Language for ‘bridge’ involves using both hands to represent the structure. The non-dominant hand is extended horizontally, representing the bridge’s surface. The dominant hand, with index and middle fingers extended, is placed underneath the non-dominant hand, moving side-to-side to mimic the supports of the bridge.

‘To bridge’ according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary has a meaning of ‘a time, place, or means of connection or transition’. This meaning resonates with me as someone who has devoted much of my professional life as an artist, lecturer, inventor and facilitator to exploring and implementing a practise of connecting and facilitating transition. In fostering collaboration and connectedness with and amongst the D/deaf, disabled, mad and chronically ill, fertile ground for nourishing radical thinking and action is laid open and admissible to an originality of emerging, resilient minds and creative practices. This power of activism mediates prolonged imaginings of accessibility, innovation of creative methodologies, community empowerment and a resilient, unified voice for artistic equality.

Sync Canada, in its multiple manifestations with its unrelenting focus on leadership and coaching has been crucial in nurturing a fertile space for us to change and make impact in our arts practices and Sync Re-Ignite with its focus on artists with a visual or media arts practice is the new window of opportunity and the next logical step in cultivating inclusive practice and accessible curation in Canada, building on what we have achieved.

Why now? Because we can! We can because we have the resources and we have the experience. Through the previous manifestations of Sync Leadership in Canada we have originated a curatorial leadership network and a unified energy to provoke change and realize a justified and equitable place for D/deaf, disabled, mad and chronically ill creatives in Canada. Energy manifests energy.  And what is energy but the ability to cause change or motion and to see how and in what way, that is meaningful for others. 

And what is leadership if it isn’t about sharing energy? Sync Re-Ignite, by its name and nature, is designed to share energy; for sharing ways of nurturing accessible leadership practices and by extension for sharing these practices broadly in the arts community. It is also about exploring that luminous and very fertile space between thought and action and between action and completion; the bridging interval where intuition and knowledge intermingle, and accessible curation practices take form.

Sync Re-Ignite, by its name and nature, is designed to share energy; for sharing ways of nurturing accessible leadership practices and by extension for sharing these practices broadly in the arts community.

Other Leaders