News:
Book Launch of "Even if it's not true, it's well found"
14 May 2025, 4:30-5:30pm
Level Five - GP
Rue Gabrielle Petit 6
1080 Brussels
During the Level Five Open Studios public program, I will present my new book. There will be curious haptic objects to hold, and the graphic designers D-E-A-L will also be present to speak about the book's creation.
Even if it's not true, it's well found
Translations in French, German, and Arabic
22.5 x 32.5cm, 80pgs.
Published by Casino Luxembourg
Printed by Die Keure, Bruges
Price: 35€
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Book Launch of "Even if it's not true, it's well found"
29 Mar 2025, 3:30-5:00pm
Casino Luxembourg
41, Rue Notre-Dame
L-2240 Luxembourg
Finally my book is out! Designed by D-E-A-L, this beautiful hardbound book brings together drawings, pictures, and 5 short stories that resulted from a commission project with Casino Luxembourg of the last couple years. I created 3 mobile artworks that were presented in special workshops to communities who don't have access to the art center. We visited a refugee center, a community of deaf and blind people, a prison, and a school. Based on the groups' reactions and responses to the artworks, I wrote fictional stories that give their "truths" for the sculptures.
If you are interested to order one, send me an email or contact me on social media. The price is 35€
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This past 2023-2024, my work was chosen for a commission at Casino Luxembourg. I created a new version of my ongoing work "Even if it's not true, it's well found". The work consists of abstract sculptures made of different materials – silver, laminated hardwood, polished epoxy clay – allowing for different tactile experiences. Their forms are inspired by ancestral ritual instruments, the human body and post-modern design objects. The commission asked for a work that can leave the art center to reach communities who don’t have access. In response, I created workshops with the mediators of Casino Luxembourg, where we travel to present the work to different groups like: a refugee center, a community of deaf and blind people, and a prison. The participants are then invited to share associations and imagine fictional truths for the sculptures. Based on their reactions, I write stories which are then shared at the next session as a kind of estafette.
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Boogie
Group exhibition
5 Oct 2024 - 10 April
2025
Casino Luxembourg
41, Rue Notre-Dame
L-2240 Luxembourg
Boogie, is alive, complex, and ever-changing. It is about following the groove and embracing the complexity, resonances, and dissonances. But Boogie, is anything but passive. Boogie, thrives all the better as long as it is actively engaged with. As much as the pronunciation of the title shapes circles in one’s mouth, the project itself is all about smooth rhythms, flows, and shapes.
With works by: David Bernstein, Stephen Korytko, Christine Sun Kim, Nicholas Vargelis, Jules Maillot. Curated by Charles Rouleau, Stilbé Schroeder.
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Candle Braiding: On Queering Ritual Objects
Workshop in collaboration with Shoshana Walfish
23 Nov 2024
Kaai Studios
81 Rue Notre Dame du Sommeil
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Join us for a 2 hour workshop, where we will use the braiding of a traditional havdalah candle as a starting point to delve into queering of ritual objects, intersections, entanglements, breaking binaries and other symbolic meanings. Together we will learn about the ritual of separating the sacred from the everyday while making queer havdalah candles, creating ritual objects of our own.
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Passage
Group exhibition
11 Apr - 1 Sep 2024
Jewish Museum of Belgium
Rue des Minimes 21
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Performance Program:
- Misafirperver – Hilal Aydoğdu – 11.04.2024
- La Chapelle des peines – Barbara Salomé Felgenhauer – 22.05.2024
- Even if it’s not true, it’s well found – David Bernstein – 6.06.2024
- To your arrival and our welcome – Zinaïda Tchelidze – 1.09.2024
As part of the exhibition Passage - Textiles & Rituals, the Jewish Museum of Belgium has created the performance program entitled Laboratory of Rituals. This cycle invites us to explore the contemporary resurgence of beliefs and rites, through unique intercultural creations. Along with performances, each artist is also presenting artworks that stay during the course of the exhibition.
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Leaps of Faith
Group exhibition
31 Mar - 25 Aug
2024
Z33
Bonnefantenstraat 1
3500 Hasselt, Belgium
What is the relationship between faith and art today? For many artists, faith extends beyond mere religious belief. It's about our relationship to the unknown and the incomprehensible; about doubt and conviction; about what you cannot know but perhaps can feel. The exhibition Leaps of Faith features works by: Igshaan Adams, Francis Alÿs, David Bernstein, Peter Buggenhout, Justin Caguiat, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Edith Dekyndt, Kira Freije, Theaster Gates, Daan Gielis, Peter Hujar, Kris Martin, Sophie Nys, Antonio Obá, Namsal Siedlecki, Paul Thek, Danh Vo, Cathy Wilkes. Curated by Tim Roerig.
Photo by: Selma Gurbuz
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New Lovin
Performance Exhibition
26 Jan - 12 May 2024
Extra City
112 Provinciestraat 2018
Antwerpen, Belgium
Performances
(duration 40 min)
10 guests at a time
***Subscribe Now HERE!***
New Lovin is a performance exhibition bringing together three narratives with the common thread of human desires for dominance and submission. The power relations are explored through a queer reading of a medieval antisemitic symbol, a collection of displaced watermelons, and a plan for a new utopian city in Belgium called New Lovin. Over more than 30 planned performances, I will activate and reveal the exhibited objects, thus emphasizing the importance of physical presence, ritual and storytelling.
New Lovin is made possible with additional support from Mondriaan Fonds.
Photo by: wedocumentart
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Sukkot
Event
6 Oct
2023
Morpho
Ploegstraat 25
Antwerp, Belgium
Sukkot is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the end of the harvest by building a temporary hut outside where meals can take place. On Oct 6, we welcome you to this special evening created in collaboration with Justine Jaz Okolodkoff, Lara Bongard, and Michelle Woods.
At the event, there will be a conceptual dinner, a queer film screening programme, collective decorations, and a Lulav and etrog inspired cocktail. In the garden of Morpho, a sukkah pavilion has been designed for this occasion in collaboration with architect Oleg Asoiev. There we will gather and relax under the stars.
Photo by: Lara Bongard
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Publiek Park
Group exhibition
15 Sep - 1 Oct
2023
Albertpark, Harmoniepark, Provincietuin
Antwerp, Belgium
The second edition of Publiek Park aims to highlight the various layers of stories public green spaces contain by bringing together visual art, performance, music, film, word and more. Participating artists: 019, David Bernstein, Christiane Blattmann, Alessio Ragno Capone, Jonas Dehnen, Nico Dockx, Lise Duclaux, Jakub Jansa, Monika Emmanuelle Kazi, Jiyoung Kim, Metahaven, Mathias Mu, Yemo Park, Paola Siri Renard, Leander Schönweger, Hussein Shikha, Pei-Hsuan Wang & Guy Woueté
Photo by: Michiel De Cleene
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Liefdevol & Kritisch
Performance
28 Sep, 7:45pm
Collectie De Groen
Weverstraat 40
Arnhem, Netherlands
I will be performing a fragment from the performance 'To Half Sell A Duck'. If you are around, I'm sure it will be a fun and interesting night, there will be another performance by Karin van Pinxteren and a talk between Julius Thissen and Hadassah Emmerich.
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Judeo-Futurism
Online Presentation/Performance
Yiddishland Pavilion
21 Sep, 2pm (NY time), 8pm (Brussels time)
***RSVP with the link here***
I will give an artist talk about my recent work looking at queer religious futurism. I will show some video clips of a recent performance as well as some background research for upcoming works. I come from a Reconstructionist Jewish background and am influenced by “The Crash”, a concept from progressive Rabbi, Bennay Lappe. She argues that religious “master narratives” will eventually crash and we should choose a path of radical re-imagination. This is embodied in my exploration of "Judeo-Futurism", reclaiming historical symbols (including oppressive ones) and placing them into joyful and sometimes perverted fantasies.
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To Half Sell A Duck
Performance exhibition by David Bernstein
Fortune Teller
Hosted by Keiv & The Breeder Gallery
Kalimnou 38
Athens, Greece
10 Sep - 1 October 2022
With performances on 10/9, 11/9 & 1/10
4pm, 5:30pm, 7pm (duration 1 hour)
18 guests at a time
***Subscribe Now HERE!***
To Half Sell A Duck is an exhibition and performance that brings together a constellation of works around the theme of queer religious futures. Bernstein comes from a Reconstructionist Jewish background and is influenced by “The Crash”, a concept from progressive Rabbi, Bennay Lappe. She argues that religious “master narratives” will eventually crash and we should choose a path of radical re-imagination. This is embodied in the artist's exploration of "Judeo-Futurism", reclaiming historical symbols of oppression by placing them into queer fantasies. Guests will be guided through the exhibition with a performance that tells a story about a radical priest who makes kinky paintings, the creation of a Golem who fights canards, and an encounter with the artist Danh Võ who asks Bernstein to cut up a 500 year old wooden Jesus into pieces.
This is the inaugural exhibition of Fortune Teller, a new project space in Athens created by Denis Maksimov-Gupta and Inga Bergen. For this first project, Fortune teller is presenting within the artist-run non-profit Keiv, and the commercial gallery The Breeder.
To Half Sell a Duck is made possible with additional support from Mondriaan Fonds.
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Ornamenta
Group exhibition
Stadtmuseum
Westliche Karl-Friedrich-Straße 243
75172 Pforzheim, Germany
13 May - 2 Oct 2022
(My work will only be available until 30 May)
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To Half Sell A Duck
Performance exhibition by David Bernstein
8 Track
Rue de la Petite Île 1A
1070 Brussels, Belgium
7 - 14 April
5pm, 6:30pm, 8pm (duration 1 hour)
6 guests at a time
***Subscribe Now HERE!***
To Half Sell A Duck is an exhibition and performance that brings together a constellation of works around the theme of queer religious futures. David explores "Judeo-Futurism", reclaiming historical symbols of oppression by rethinking them and placing them into joyful and perverted fantasies. Guests will be guided through the exhibition with a performance that tells a story about a radical priest who makes kinky paintings, the creation of a Golem who fights canards, and an encounter with the artist Danh Võ who asks David to cut up a medieval wooden Jesus into pieces.
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