David Markus is an interdisciplinary writer, educator, and organizer. His writing focuses on representations of dwelling and domesticity in late-capitalist contexts, social practices in contemporary art, the conflict between intimacy and artistic ambition in twentieth-century culture, and the question of Jewish belonging in the wake of the Holocaust.
His current book project, “Syndromes of Persecution: Genocide, Jewish Belonging, and the Legacy of Survival,” merges memoir, literary criticism, and political commentary. Drawing on the experiences of the author’s father, a child survivor of the Holocaust and subsequent Zionist youth leader, the book explores the relationship between trauma and identity in the context of contemporary schisms within the Jewish community over the Israeli occupation and ongoing destruction of Palestinian life and culture.
Markus is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Expository Writing Program at New York University. His articles have appeared in publications such as Afterimage, Art Journal, Parapraxis, Fence, Frieze, Art in America, BOMB, American Art, The Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, and Flash Art. He is the author of Notes on Trumpspace: Politics, Aesthetics, and the Fantasy of Home (Punctum Books). Markus proudly serves on the organizing committee of NYU Contract Faculty United - UAW, which in 2024 achieved recognition as the largest private full-time faculty union in the United States.