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Hrag Vartanian

@hrag.bsky.social
54K followers 1.1K following 2.9K posts

Art Critic Futurist 🧬 Editor-at-large, cofounder of @Hyperallergic.com 🗽 Aleppo born, Toronto raised, Brooklyn based w/ @veken.bsky.social I tweet about art and politics because art doesn't exist in a vacuum.

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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 7h
A personal fave not posted in the article.
A performance art scene
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 7h
You can read my full review (w glorious photos): “RuAfza served the theoretical meat of the aesthetic banquet, bringing Brechtian stylings to her surgical strikes at billionaires, right-wing hysteria, & exhaustion, capped by a Luigi Mangione-inspired enactment that left us with a hole-y Elon Musk.”
hyperallergic.com
The Ritual Joy of Queer Performance Refuses to Give Up
Reigning diva Amygdala brings Brooklyn drag to Manhattan in “Pleasure Dome: Continuum,” a fête of therapeutic sound, vaudeville tributes, and queer politics.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 7h
My review of Pleasure Dome Continuum is up on the site and I have a video report too.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 8h
This makes me so ill. The bloodlust of this administration and its supporters knows no boundaries. Cronenberg’s Videodrome was prescient.
Screenshot of WasPo story about live-streaming an execution
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 15h
He was a professional and was a great and encouraging teacher. He helped me flourish.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Then you would’ve hated this.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
My husband has a no blood or bloodletting rule for performance art, so I’m glad I didn’t bring him.
Sign at entrance to performance space
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
So true. “I wrote on October 7, 2023 — the day of the Hamas attack, with Israel’s bombs already falling on Gaza — that Israel was going to commit a genocide. That took no prophecy, only a willingness to believe what Israel had told us about itself for years…”
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Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
by @self.agency, brilliantly structured, essential, applying what Jews ourselves defined about genocide denial to much of our community's attitudes towards Gaza these last years.
jewschool.com
When Jews Deny Genocide · Jewschool
“Keep far from a false charge; do not bring death on those who are innocent and in the right, for I will not acquit the
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I know, right?
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The Table of Contents is still relevant. And I love that it was printed in a dot-matrix printer. 🤭
Table of contents of a high school report paper
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I just discovered an old paper I wrote in 1990 for high school about Homosexuality. I would’ve been in grade10s
Front page of a high school paper
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Tonight, I'm moderating a talk at @bklynlibrary.bsky.social with a panel of artists about the freedom of expression. Come by! It starts at 6:30p.
bklynlibrary.org
On Artistic Freedom: A Panel Discussion | Brooklyn Public Library
This Banned Books Week, BPL exhibiting artist and author Christopher Myers is joined by Oscar-nominated and Peabody Award-winning Director/Producer of The Librarians, Kim A. Snyder; Namrata Tripathi, ...
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Every table is a story.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Morgan Library atrium
Rows of restaurant tables
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Quite a line to get into the Morgan on the last day of the Tarot show.
People lined up outside a museum.
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Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Charlie Angus @charlieangus104.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
The National Post attack on NDP Leader Avi Lewis crosses the line into threat. They invoke the same religious code words used by extremists who assassinated Yitzhak Rabin. It is unacceptable to use religious intimidation to shut down debate on Gaza. charlieangus.substack.com/p/national-p...
charlieangus.substack.com
NATIONAL POST CROSSES LINE ON THREAT AGAINST LEWIS
A recent editorial on NDP leader Avi Lewis crossed the line into an extremist hate threat. It needs to be called out.
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Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I reviewed Mala Iqbal’s current painting show at JJ Murphy gallery: “This is city as living room, something that most New Yorkers will recognize, a place where dogs can blend with their owners, & the hybridity of faces in the paintings reveals geographies that are as imperial as they are familial…”
hyperallergic.com
Mala Iqbal Paints the Space We Share With Strangers
Her new paintings remind us that the world is a room we share with strangers, most of whom are looking elsewhere.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
It’s really lovely. Lots of small gems.
Wall of small paintings
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Some great details.
People on subwayPainting of man and tullePainting of people in front of fence
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I reviewed Mala Iqbal’s current painting show at JJ Murphy gallery: “This is city as living room, something that most New Yorkers will recognize, a place where dogs can blend with their owners, & the hybridity of faces in the paintings reveals geographies that are as imperial as they are familial…”
hyperallergic.com
Mala Iqbal Paints the Space We Share With Strangers
Her new paintings remind us that the world is a room we share with strangers, most of whom are looking elsewhere.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
And some people wonder why rape survivors don’t come forward. We have learned nothing.
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Timothy Snyder @timothysnyder.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
We are ruining our own institutions, which is sad for us and great for our enemies.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I just can’t. She really thought she had a zinger there.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Biden’s team continues to think we’re idiots. They lost because they’re terrible liars and bad at their jobs, no other reason.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This bunny decided to hang out by us for half an hour, barely moving.
Small bunny on grass
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Hello, Canada 🍁
Early morning at a lake in cottage country
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Driving and then this made me upchuck.
Apple Maps labeling Lake Ontario
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Remembering South Lebanon 🇱🇧
Man holding a protest sign in Bryant Park
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Outside the United Nations
Woman holding banner protesting Netanyahu’s role in the Gaza Genocide
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
From yesterday’s protest in front of the Museum of Modern Art, and reporter Anna Lee has this story hyperallergic.com/duo-calls-to...
Protester in front of the Museum of Modern Art 
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Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Aruna D’Souza @arunadsouza.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“Worst” is such a strong word, but “Pavilions I was ambivalent about and some I thought were missed opportunities” was too long. Anyway @hrag.bsky.social and I offer our quick takes on the Venice Biennale for your reading pleasure in @hyperallergic.com hyperallergic.com/the-worst-na...
hyperallergic.com
The Worst National Pavilions at the Venice Biennale
And some we're still ambivalent about.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
It’s always the smallest decision that has a bigger impact than you think 😑
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I spilled a can of water in a bag of sketchbooks 😭 I think I can mostly save them.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The Tarot show at Morgan Library is truly exceptional & you should run to see it before it closes Oct 4. It was one of the rare times I read almost all the wall text. This is an illustration of a couple playing cards (which is how Tarot started) from a 16th-century Flemish manuscript.
16th century Flemish manuscript
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
A friend of mine is doing the same. I really do think it is worth it, especially if that’s an important part of your life, you’re a tarot reader or enthusiast.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Here’s a Justice card from a 15th-century Lombardian set. Their selection was fantastic.
Justice tarot card
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The Tarot show at Morgan Library is truly exceptional & you should run to see it before it closes Oct 4. It was one of the rare times I read almost all the wall text. This is an illustration of a couple playing cards (which is how Tarot started) from a 16th-century Flemish manuscript.
16th century Flemish manuscript
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
The Taryn Simon show at the Guggenheim was disturbing because it presented the horrors of US intelligence organizations in the coldest most detached manner imaginable. The artist more an engaged part of the machine of US empire than an observer.
View of the Guggenheim Museum atrium
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
My favorite line: "He may have started out painting holes, but he ended up being one for a much more famous artist."
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I reviewed the current play at The Brick theater about the fantastical tale of Damien Hirst’s death revealing his secret gay lover, Shape. I love plays about obsession, and this off-off-Broadway production was as quirky as they come.
hyperallergic.com
The Titillating Tale of Damien Hirst’s Gay Hole
An infectious play by Sleth explores infatuation and fame through an imagined relationship between Hirst and his gay lover, a younger artist whose paintings consist of holes on the ground.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Some people seem to replace their parents with theory to tell them what to do.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Wait till the Bolsonaros return 😭
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Writing letters of recommendation is far more work than I ever account for.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Pure meringue bliss.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
It was a dream.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A look inside 🤤
Baked Alaska
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I’m still thinking about the Baked Alaska at Gage & Tollner. It was incredible.
Baked Alaska
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Ed Sheeran is a fool and has destroyed his reputation.
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Hrag Vartanian @hrag.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The Trump admin clearly hates abstract art. "Trump called it a 'strange modernist sculpture' that 'tells visitors nothing about America, inspires no one, and honors none of our Great American Heroes.'”
hyperallergic.com
Another Abstract Public Artwork Faces Trump’s Senseless Ire
The president wants to replace José de Rivera's “Infinity” (1967) outside the National Museum of American History with a statue of George Washington.
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