David Bernstein

David Bernstein (b. 1990, Ottawa) is currently based in Montreal. His work with live performance and recorded media has used found sources, humour, cultural iconography and object-based dramaturgy to queer spectator reception and perception. His work with sensory design has used scent as scenography, sculpture, and bootleg therapeutics. He is now exploring all of the above.

In 2020, he founded Jovian, a scent studio dedicated to experimental natural perfumery. Under the Jovian umbrella, he has created perfumes, diffuser oils, a gallery installation and an ambient scent for dance.

In the last decade, his work has been presented at Teater Momentum in Odense, Denmark; the Soho Theatre in London, UK; Ars Nova, the New Ohio Theater, The Public Theater, Judson Church, Dixon Place, New Museum, and HERE Arts Center in New York, USA; Agora de la danse in Montreal, Canada; and the Theatre Centre and Citadel + Compagnie in Toronto, Canada. His work for radio has been commissioned by Museet for Samtidskunst in Roskilde, Denmark and published in the Ny nordisk radiodramatik 2019/2020 anthology by Akt1 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has collaborated with Toronto choreographer Alyssa Martin on eight pieces since 2016, as well as Brooklyn writer and astrologer Jaime Wright (often under the collective moniker Carroll Simmons), Copenhagen theatremaker Niels Erling, Montreal musician Jake Vanderham and Toronto performers Stephanie Cozzette and Teresa Labriola. He received an MA from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2019.