Felix Bernstein

...is the author of the poetry collection, Burn Book (Nightboat), and a book of essays, Notes on Post-Conceptual Poetry (Insert Blanc Press), which the New York Times noted for its “blistering cultural criticism.” Notes was also selected as a Best of 2015 by Artforum. His writing has been featured in Art in America, Poetry Magazine, Spike Arts Magazine, Bomb, Mousse, May Revue, Bookforum and Texte Zur Kunst.

Bernstein collaborates with the artist Gabe Rubin on works of theater, film, poetry, and digital media. Taking apart the formal parameters of essay and installation, they highlight structural impasses inherent in multimedia hybridity. Often performing as fictional, anachronous personae, they employ the elasticity of theatricality in moments of tenuous changeover. Their ongoing work analyzes of madness and mimesis in queer performance, challenging staid discourses and affective assumptions. Bernstein and Rubin explore the implications of both fashionable and occluded tropes of queer and trans life including dysphoria, suicide, and depersonalization.

Bernstein and Rubin’s work has been presented at MOCA Los Angeles, Issue Project Room, Anthology Film Archives, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Reena Spaulings Fine Arts (Los Angeles), and Pilar Corrias Gallery (London). At the Whitney, they staged and performed Bernstein’s libretto Bieber Bathos Elegy in 2016 and Mayo Thompson’s Victorine (with Art & Language) for the 2012 Whitney Biennial. They are represented by David Lewis Gallery (New York City).

Books

Burn Book
from Nightbook Books

1.

Notes on Post-Conceptual Poetry: A critical survey of post-conceptual poetry

2.

Essays

“Sublime Bromanticism” and “I Will Not Interpret Jack Smith,” May Revue (2020)

1.

Notes on Cant
November 12, 2019, Masha Tupitsyn discusses Picture Cycle, Artforum

2.

A Romantic and Sublime Threshold State: Jacqueline Humphries, Mousse Magazine

3.

Review of Laura Owens' Exhibit at the Whitney

4.

The Importance of Earnest Criticism
Felix Bernstein interviews Jarrett Earnest

5.

Liking Andy Warhol: An Interview With Jonathan Flatley by Felix Bernstein

6.

Review of Seth Price's "Danny, Mila, Hannah, Ariana, Bob, Brad"

7.

"Brooklyn Rail" interview with Felix Bernstein and Gabe Rubin

8.

Bookforum Talks to Wayne Koestenbaum

9.

Review & Interview: Eileen Myles’s Homage to a Dearly Departed Dog

10.

Memories of Utopia: Jean Luc Godard’s ‘Collages de France’ Models

11.

Planetarium of Blended Dreams: Review of Ben Cooley's Moonley

12.

The Irreproachable Essay: On the Amazon Discourse of Hybrid Literature

13.

That's Infotainment! Virtual Pedagogy and Instagram Populism in the Museum

14.

Left Dogmatism, Charismatic Authority, and the Uninitiated

15.

Can You Escape the Family

16.

"Swiping Left on the Hangout: A Conversation with Felix Bernstein"
published in Pank (August 2016)

17.

"Virtuosity Provides Freedom: An Interview with Artist M. Lamar"
published in Hyperallergic (April 2016)

18.

“J.S. Je Suis/Jack Smith,” a conversation with Jay Sanders
published in Art Critical (October 2015)

19.

“Bad Fathers,” a conversations with Zach Phillips, published in Volta (October 2015)

20.

“The Phallus in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” a conversation with Kyoo Lee, published in DIS (November 2015)

21.

Expression Concrète: A review of Divya Victor’s Natural Subjects
published in Jacket2 (June 2015)

22.

The Prison House of Post-Internet Poetry: A Critical Look at the Poetry of the New Museum’s Triennial
published in Hyperallergic (May 2015)

23.

Breaking Camp: On John Waters After Divine published in Hyperallergic (April 2015)

24.

Felix Bernstein & Cecilia Corrigan: Artists in Conversation
published in BOMB (February 2015)

25.

Felix Bernstein: Breakfast at Tiffany’s; Dinner at Goldsmith’s
published in Lemon Hound (September 2014)

26.

“Forget O’Hara: A Review of Lonely Christopher’s Death and Disaster Series” for The Boston Review (July 2014)

27.

“New Fangled Old Things: Views from the Avant Garde 2012”
Brooklyn Rail, November 2012

28.

“Cecilia Corrigan’s Blonde Ambition”

29.

Felix Bernstein

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Felix & Gabe