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Library

David Sater

January 27, 2024

|

Hudson, NY

Song

Recorded by

Annie Reynolds

This interview is available in-person only. Please get in touch if you would like to listen.
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Summary:

This interview was conducted with David Sater on January 27, 2024 in Hudson, New York as part of Oral History Summer School’s winter Interview Corps. David and the interviewer, Annie Reynolds, have been friends since 2021.

David was born in 1991 in Manhattan, or 1642 in Prague. He is a writer, visual artist, experimental filmmaker, and aspiring alchemist; he lives in Livingston, New York and spends part of the year in Oaxaca, Mexico. David begins his interview by describing some of the places he calls home: the gothic hallways of The Dakota Apartments in Manhattan, where he spent his childhood years, and the Suminski Innski in Tivoli, New York. He mentions several early memories, including spending time in Central Park with his father and reckoning with questions about the nature of the soul and afterlife upon encountering a dead pigeon. He spends some time speaking about these questions. As an aspiring alchemist, David regards his bookmaking and printmaking processes as part of his practice of alchemy. He mentions his familiar/spiritual guardian, the bat.

He speaks about caring for his friends through praise and food. In addition to friendship, David talks briefly about what matters to him, including mythology, magic, the philosophical snail, and beauty. He names dissatisfaction as a major problem of our times and offers a proposed solution: “to ferment, get juicy, be wild in your gentleness, be sensitive; guard and help to manifest the things you find beautiful.” David concludes his interview by naming Estragon, a brass crab from Paris who sat on his lap during the interview. Estragon is the guardian of David’s forthcoming book project which is set on a magical boat.

This interview might be of interest to anyone researching or interested in learning more about mythography, philosophy, alchemy, and magic; living in The Dakota Apartments in the 1990s; and the history of the Suminski Innski in Tivoli.

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Themes:
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Interviewer Bio:
Annie Reynolds
Additional Info:
Interview language(s):
English
,
Audio quality:

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Permissions: 

This interview is hereby made available for research purposes only. For additional uses (radio and other media, music, internet), please click here to inquire about permissions.

Part of this interview may be played in a radio broadcast or podcast.

Oral history is an iterative process. In keeping with oral history values of anti-fixity, interviewees will have an opportunity to add, annotate and reflect upon their lives and interviews in perpetuity. Talking back to the archive is a form of “shared authority.”

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