David Bernstein
To Half Sell a Duck 

September 15, 2022–October 1, 2022
The Breeder, Athens


To Half Sell a Duck by David Bernstein at Fortune Teller
September 11 (KEIV) & 15 (The Breeder gallery) – October 1, 2022
@ Keiv.Space, Kalimnou 38, – opening on September 10, with performances on September 10, 11 and October 1 (book your slot); intervention @ The Breeder gallery, Iasonos 45, – opening on September 14, 19.00-22.00

Fortune Teller is excited to present the first project, a solo exhibition of David Bernstein’s “To Half Sell A Duck” hosted in Athens by KEIV cultural centre and The Breeder gallery.

David Bernstein (he/him, 1988, San Antonio, Texas) is an artist based in Brussels and Amsterdam. He is a linguistic, metaphysic, mystical lunatic, and likes to play with words. His solo project brings a constellation of works around the theme of 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 sixteen-century wooden Jesus into pieces. The exhibition features drawings, paintings, and a sculpture, providing a setting for the performance. The show spreads over two locations: the exhibition is presented in KEIV, and several pieces are featured as an intervention in The Breeder.

Fortune Teller is a nomadic gallery co-founded by Inga Bergen, a leading German innovation and digital health expert, and Denis Maksimov-Gupta, a London-based independent curator. We strive for thinking futures with art. Fortune Teller will function as a pop-up, showing multimedia initiatives in different cities and building arches between institutions.

David Berstein, Kulanu, 2022, Sennelier ink and India ink on paper, 50.5 x 65 cm.
David Bernstein, Judenhut Love, 2022 , Posca marker and India ink on paper, 46 x 65 cm.
David Bernstein, Lecha Dodi, 2021, Posca marker and India ink on paper, 24.5 x 32 cm.
David Bernstein, “Ex Võto (Face)”, 2022, 16th Century oak sculpture of Jesus (off cut from Danh Võ work), amber with insect inside, and neodymium magnet, 11.5 x 11.5 cm.
David Berstein, Black Curtain, 2021, Acrylic, Pine wood, and neodymium magnet, 13.5 x 15.5 cm.