Opening the Closet: David Wilson bares all

What do pole dancers, drag acts, and football jocks drenched in cream have to do with a creativity and design festival like OFFF? Well, more than you might think, says David Wilson. 

It was the final talk of the day at OFFF Festival, Barcelona, and those unfamiliar with the Riff Raff director could have been forgiven for thinking, as Wilson opened the first slide of his presentation, that this talk would follow largely the same format as those that preceded. 

That was, until, his critically-acclaimed and incredibly NSFW short, Deep Clean - a radically playful depiction of a man engaging in full-throttle anal penetration with a vacuum cleaner - was projected, in all its outrageous glory, on the main stage screen, as well as on public screens outside of the venue. No, this was not going to be your average keynote speech. 

To be invited to places like OFFF and encouraged to spread that queer joy, to be able to have this in a motion graphics festival, is amazing.

After fourteen years of directing both live-action and animated films for the likes of Spotify and Ebay, and helming vibrant, body-positive promos for artist from Masstor to Mabel, it would seem only fitting that Wilson’s first retrospective would take the form of a live cabaret performance. 

Titled Closet, the show depicts a cleverly-cut selection of his films spliced with animated club visuals, live performers, and a metaphorical strip-teasing-metamorphosis from the man himself. We spoke to Wilson following his performance at OFFF Festival to find out more about play, personal growth, and how he pulled off this queer-joy-filled creative extravaganza.  

Above: (NSFW) Deep Clean, directed by David Wilson.

For those who haven't seen the show, can you explain a little about it?

The show is a mixture of work that I've created, whether that's music video projects, short films like The Clean, or my own animations. I did a reworking of my short film called Sister, which is all hand drawn animations. I'm really proud that everything that I put up on the screen was both conceived, directed and executed by me, whether it's a commission or a personal work, it all reflects me. 

This is paired with a remix of tracks I've directed music videos for, and I worked with a DJ to make the final mix. I'd love for everything to be live, but I'm not an octopus! I was already queuing half of the visuals live using a programme called Modulate. 

I had to go through my whole show reel, and figure out what work actually communicated who I am now, both as a human and an artist. 

While this is all happening on screen, I'm wearing a black inflatable suit and gradually stripping layers off, while performers come onto the stage, like pole dancer Óscar del Pozo, Wet Mess, Pinto. We even had Masstor once, this six-foot-eight purple ork fly in from Los Angeles for a one time only show. 

Above: Pole dancer Óscar del Pozo performing during Closet at OFFF Festival. 

Where did you first get the idea to put on a live show? 

The whole thing evolved thanks to the nurturing encouragement of Playgrounds Festival. I was asked to do two talks for them in one day, so I planned one lecture during the day, which was a standard talk. Around that time I had also been working on some club visuals, so for the second lecture, I decided to do a little bit of a talk, followed by one of my club shows, which I'd done for a small film festival in Birmingham earlier that year. 

And I feel like everyone on the stage would not have been there if they weren't in a place that was safely held for them. 

Everyone loved it and got out of their seats and started dancing on the stage! Then Playgrounds Festival came to London last year, and offered me some funding to do the show there. I saw it as an opportunity, and as a big moment in my career that I could turn into a retrospective. 

Above: Self Control directed by Wilson for Masstor 

Why did you choose this format? Why now in particular?

It feels like there's never an appropriate time to have a retrospective. But I was forced to look through all of my work for the talk, so I had to go through my whole show reel, and figure out what work actually communicated who I am now, both as a human and an artist.  And because I've been directing this for 14 years now, I realised I can have an hour long show, and I'm so happy that it ended up as a long form project. After that it came very easily. It’s a long form project that seems to have formed naturally over my career. 

The community, those spaces that we hold for people to feel safe, have such a huge ripple effect. 

The show reflects so many of the values that I hold dear. There’s this idea that queer joy can only be expressed and experienced by the queer community in, you know, a queer venue, in a basement. It's great that we have these pivotal and important spaces where we feel safe, but once we hold that safety, and know that we own it, to be able to be invited to places like OFFF and encouraged to spread that queer joy, to be able to hold this in a motion graphics festival, is amazing.

You can see the difference that it makes. And you can see that people really connect to it. When people that come up to me afterwards and say 'this has impacted me', it is very, very powerful. 

Above: Poster for David Wilson's Closet created by Cheng Hsuan Chung

Is your performance in Closet symbolic of your journey as a director? 

Yes, there's a journey that we go on, a kind of skin shedding. I start in a big inflatable black suit, then strip to an inflatable pink suit, and gradually wear less and less items. In the longer version, the music starts with Tame Impala Let it happen, which is this anxiety-fuelled rock opera. To start like that, and then shed the anxiety and be set free, is really fun. 

Sometimes you have to lean into instinct, and you can't exactly explain why you need to draw something or why you need to film something, but it does all make sense. 

But at the same time, there's the darkness of things like Wet Mess’ burlesque piece, and then there's the light, playfulness, things like Pinto covering himself in cream. It goes in a certain trajectory towards connectivity, with myself but also the audience! Seeing the audience themselves transform is amazing. 

Above: Wilson's animated short film, Sister. 

As a director, you must be more used to being on the other side of the camera! How did you feel being on stage as part of the show? 

I have always felt comfortable on stage, I was in the drama club at school. It's not a direction that I ever felt I was going to be drawn towards, but it's a tool that I knew I could utilise. 

Something that really affected me the last two years was going to queer retreat spaces, like Radical Fairies. It was a place where I found myself being encouraged to challenge conventions of who I am, and what I'm capable of. The community, those spaces that we hold, for people to feel safe, have such a huge ripple effect. 

We’re all creative people. Just because you’ve fallen into this bracket of, ‘I'm a graphic designer’, or ‘I'm an animator’, doesn't mean you can't make music or perform, you know, it's just creativity. 

And I feel like everyone on the stage at OFFF would not have been there if they weren't in a place that was safely held for them to be themselves, and it’s wonderful to know that everyone on that stage had been on that same journey. For example, Oscar the pole dancer is just amazing, but pole dancing is so often seen as a female activity. Wet Mess is a painter, but they found that they could translate their fine art painting to their face, so they started doing drag competitions. 

Above: David Wilson in Closet, wearing his inflatable suit.

What do you hope people take away from Closet?  

Queer joy is for everyone - that is really important. I love the fact that I've been able to bring something to people, which is the exact thing that I would like to see too, and I’d love for everyone to take that same attitude and put something out into the world that they'd want to see. 

Queer joy is for everyone - that is really important.

We’re all creative people, and just because you’ve fallen into this bracket of, ‘I'm a graphic designer’, or ‘I'm an animator’, doesn't mean you can't make music or perform, you know, just creativity. It flows in all different forms.