David Lisbon

David Lisbon was born in 1994 in Kansas City, Missouri. He is an independent curator, architect, and designer. He hopes to use all of these skills to help creatively tell the stories of artists who might otherwise be overlooked or pigeon-holed by contemporary institutions.

In the graduate dissertation, Surveillance in 2020 and beyond (beyond surveillance), Lisbon asks questions of where we find complacency in institutions’ mission of educating their publics. As we move through this accordion-like, post-covid period of uncertainty curators are faced with a handful of never before seen contemporary issues, and these issues require contemporary solutions. In this document I will define and give examples, across scales, of successful contemporary solutions, and solutions that are less effective because of how they approach the issue. 

In the graduate project, Hear the Light, Lisbon addresses these questions with a contemporary online exhibition that places sound production at the forefront of the contemporary. Starting from the conviction that the Internet is a luxury, the exhibition is an invitation to think together about our present moment, which is full of inheritances, repetitions and comings, while questioning the notion of accessibility. 

Lisbon has been working on a handful of exhibitions since starting at the RCA. Most recently he did design/branding/curating for an online exhibition, Straight Lick. 

If you really want to know what he’s up to at any given moment find him online @_coach_dad or IRL, he is maybe best understood in a face to face interaction.