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Jean-Paul Kelly

@jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social
331 followers 388 following 236 posts

I’m an artist.

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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
These U.S. Open finals are perfect for MAGA America. Boring baseline endeavors; all cheers power, might, aim. No taking political stand. Two Russia-aligned players who cursorily say, “no to war”. A cocky flag-waver whose identity is OrlandoFLA/Jesus is King. And a German hero to the Epstein-class.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Don’t let the door hit you on your way out… hopefully the AGO can rebuild after this era of arrogance, unethical stewardship, and flattening conservatism.
artforum.com
Longtime Director Stephan Jost to Depart Art Gallery of Ontario
Stephan Jost, who has served as CEO and director of the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto since 2016, will exit both roles at the end of the year.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
That atrocity isn’t real…
digitaldigging.org
How to plant a nuclear plant in Iran
The question is: what on earth is Google doing?
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
For a long time I’ve upheld the ethics of the WTA and its players as paragon, so this changes things..
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Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Bernita Bowlding's brother: "They say that 'We love you, we got you,' but the reality is that this woman is homeless." The white supremacy in the frame and the homelessness outside it. A distinctly American story.
notus.org
The Woman in the Photo Wanted to Be Alone. Instead, She Went Viral.
America saw what it wanted to see on the face of its newest icon. And everyone saw it wrong.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Imagining that somewhere there’s a drone aimed at a property in Montecito inscribed with the message, “I wish you well”.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
@mark-carney.bsky.social @evansolomon.bsky.social Are you planning to incorporate Palantir’s and Alex Karp’s “values” into the technological infrastructure of Canada?
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
An example of 3D signage in acrylic brushed metal finish (gold), Champagne Script font, raised on 1/16” aluminum pins. Laser cut, quick installation. Image: doorway of the “concierge” office at Fairfield by Marriott Inn & Suites Boca Raton, Florida.
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Reposted by Jean-Paul Kelly
🩷 @shimapanacea.itch.io · 05/03/2026
mods are asleep post camera falling out of plane and landing in a pig pen to be licked by a pig
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
On the same day that Toronto Life published this disturbing account of the changing priorities at TMU, U of T sent a newsletter bulletin with its own realigned politics: echoing governmental focus on economics, AI, and security (military, Bills C-9, C-12) contra “Equity & Culture”.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
akimbo.ca
The Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts Announces the 2026 Founders Achievement Award
Each year the TFVA acknowledges a person or group who, over time, has made an exceptional contribution to the visual arts community in the greater Toronto area. The Toronto Friends of the Visual Arts…
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Reposted by Jean-Paul Kelly
Artforum @artforum.com · 16/03/2026
Curator and educator Toleen Touq has been appointed the curator of the twentieth edition of the Montreal-based MOMENTA Biennale d’art contemporain, which will take place in 2027. www.artforum.com/news/toleen-...
artforum.com
Toleen Touq Will Curate the Twentieth Edition of MOMENTA Biennale
Toleen Touq has been selected to curate the 20th edition of MOMENTA. Touq is known for her focus on programming that unfolds over time.
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Reposted by Jean-Paul Kelly
Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 10/03/2026
funny how that works
techdirt.com
MAGA Suddenly Quiet About Overseas Influence Now That Larry Ellison’s Warner Bros Bid Has Saudi, Chinese Backing
You might recall that during the great mass TikTok hyperventilation of 2021-2025, there was no limit of face fanning by Republicans like Brendan Carr about overseas involvement in social media. Car…
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Reposted by Jean-Paul Kelly
Experimental Cinema @expcinema.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
John Smith: The Girl Chewing Gum 50th Anniversary. March 10th, 18 & 20h - Close-Up Cinema, London expcinema.org/site/en/even...
expcinema.org
John Smith: The Girl Chewing Gum 50th Anniversary
John Smith’s hugely influential film The Girl Chewing Gum was shown for the first time at the London Filmmakers’ Co-op on the 10th of March 1976. In celebration of the film’s 50th birthday it will be ...
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Reposted by Jean-Paul Kelly
Mark Chadbourn @chadbourn.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez: “Today more than ever, it is essential to remember that one can be against a hateful regime as is the case with the Iranian regime…and at the same time be against an unjustified, dangerous military intervention outside of international law.”
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
“…the Venice Biennale’s current posture lays bare the cynicism of the art world… it now bends over backward to avoid offending Israel and the United States. In doing so, it becomes complicit in ongoing genocide… What remains is not resistance, but the aesthetic window-dressing of violence.”
hyperallergic.com
Israel's Plan to Artwash Genocide at the Venice Biennale
The artwork at the heart of the pavilion promises to continue the project of denying Palestinian existence.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
1/10 Dear Artist and Curator Peers, Today I received an email about the upcoming ‘MOCA x AGO’ Symposium “Collective Views” and saw that you are participating. Would you share with me your reasons for taking part in this event? #moca #mocatoronto @agotoronto.bsky.social 🧵
moca.ca
Collective Views: A Symposium on Photography and Toronto - Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto
This symposium offers a chance to reflect on Toronto and its relationship to photography. Across sessions spanning the 1970s to the present, it brings together artists, artworks, cultural figures, sch...
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Super helpful for me and my students. Thank you, @arunadsouza.bsky.social
hyperallergic.com
The Sticky Politics of Wall Texts
I never thought I would become an art critic who complains about exhibition didactics. And yet, after a visit to the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, here I am.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
“All aspects of documentary filmmaking involve choice and are therefore manipulative. But the ethical... aspect of it is that you have to... try to make [a film that] is true to the spirit of your sense of what was going on. …these films are biased, prejudiced, condensed, compressed but fair.” RIP.
bfi.org.uk
Frederick Wiseman obituary: towering figure of American documentary filmmaking
Across a filmmaking career spanning more than five decades, Wiseman – who has died at 96 – refined a uniquely austere, quietly radical form of documentary cinema. Working without narration, interviews...
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Ewa Puszczyńska’s answer is irresponsible and incorrect. The members of this jury are not acting as independent artists at the Berlinale, they are acting as a “jury”—an assessment committee appointed by a festival that is state funded—their roles are inherently political. Face the music, assholes.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
@juliedabrusin.bsky.social Will you put your legacy behind Bills C-2, C-8, and C-12 and curtail the rights of Canadians, undermine our digital sovereignty, and empower corporations via authoritarian decisions by government? What about current Liberal environmental policy? Cross the floor to the NDP.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
@mark-carney.bsky.social @liberalca.bsky.social Will your meager GST rebates address this disparity? No. Perhaps breaking up corporate monopolies in groceries, communications and banking would allow for equitable stewardship of economic structures in Canada. Ie., maybe you could do your jobs.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Where is a Canadian investigation of X, @mark-carney.bsky.social? What will it take? Why are you and your MPs still posting on the platform, given its permission of CSAM and its data collection? Why is your AI minister enmeshed with various technologies companies that profit off suffering?
theguardian.com
French headquarters of Elon Musk’s X raided by Paris cybercrime unit
Prosecutors summon tech billionaire and company’s ex-CEO for questioning as part of expanded investigation
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
I once saw him in 2004 in a convertible BMV, flashing his face in the sun to passers-by at Spadina and Richmond. He sat with a mixture of hubris and self-conscious impotence. I was a fan of his and Carol’s on CBC Sunday, but this chance meeting told me: be aware of meager men with outsized ambition.
thewalrus.ca
Evan Solomon Wants Canada to Trust AI. Can We Trust Evan Solomon? | The Walrus
The journalist-turned-minister says the tech will make us richer and regulation should be “light”
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
No.
tmz.com
Catherine O'Hara Dead at 71
Catherine O'Hara -- famous for her work in "Schitt's Creek," "Home Alone," and "Best In Show" -- is dead ... TMZ has learned.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
@ombudsmanontario.bsky.social Commissioners, can you please address the concerns raised in this article regarding the actions of Art Gallery of Ontario Trustees in collections acquisitions? @agotoronto.bsky.social #ago #agotoronto
theglobeandmail.com
AGO trustee, major donor Judy Schulich led internal push to prevent Nan Goldin acquisition
Some gallery committee members alleged Jewish-American artist’s views on Israel were ‘antisemitic’
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
AGO trustee Judy Schulich must be removed and barred from philanthropic work in Canada involving legal charitable status and public funds. She can do what she wants with her private (extractivist) capital but she cannot mobilize public funds to personal ideology. #agotoronto @agotoronto.bsky.social
hyperallergic.com
Nan Goldin Speaks Out on Art Gallery of Ontario’s Halted Acquisition
“It’s chilling that this censorship plays out especially regarding Palestine, the great exception to free speech,” Goldin told Hyperallergic.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Solomon on behalf of the Canadian government making nice with Israel to access AI surveillance technology for border security is an interesting snapshot of the “values” Carney said we would export to the world. These “values” will be law under Bills C-2, C-8, C-12. Get Solomon out of Toronto Centre.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
I believe in public institutions. I work for one. When I travel, I’m usually going to public museums and galleries. Some of the most visceral experiences in my life and work have been in these spaces. This is why I find the actions of the governing Board of Directors of the AGO so distressing.
news.artnet.com
Art Gallery of Ontario Curator Resigns Over Failed Nan Goldin Acquisition
Art Gallery of Ontario senior curator John Zeppetelli resigned after a Nan Goldin acquisition failed due to her support of Palestine
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Enough. This is a red line. The AGO Curatorial Team, Julian Cox, Caroline Shields, Adam Harris Levine, Julie Crooks, Georgiana Uhlyarik, Renée van der Avoird, Adam Welch, Debbie Johnsen, Sophie Hackett, Alexa Greist, and Jim Shedden: your silence is complicity. #agotoronto @agotoronto.bsky.social
theartnewspaper.com
Art Gallery of Ontario curator resigned after failed acquisition of Nan Goldin work
Two committee members also resigned after the vote, which unravelled amid allegations of “antisemitism” over Goldin’s support of Palestinians
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Suspend all public funding to the AGO @agotoronto.bsky.social #ago #agotoronto #canadacouncil #ontarioartscouncil #torontoartscouncil @marcmillermp.bsky.social @maritstilesndp.bsky.social @sandyshaw.bsky.social @rob4ajax.bsky.social @charliewallandrews.bsky.social
artnews.com
Art Gallery of Ontario Nixed Nan Goldin Acquisition Because of Her Comments on Israel’s War in Gaza
The Art Gallery of Ontario voted against acquiring a Nan Goldin work because of the artist's 'antisemitic' comments on Israel's war in Gaza.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Time to divest in U.S. Treasury bills, notes, and bonds. If they want to intrude on a deal between sovereign nations we can call in their debt, $360 billion; maybe China can too, $760B. It’ll be catastrophic all around, but hey, fuck them.. Japan ($1T), UK ($725B), Ireland ($340B) &tc., you in?
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
@marcmillermp.bsky.social What will it take to hold the AGO to account for the continued unethical actions of its boards (governors and acquisitions) and their continued abdication of the Canadian Charter values that Mark Carney spoke of in Davos? @agotoronto.bsky.social @mrstephanjost.bsky.social
theglobeandmail.com
AGO rocked by resignations after failed Nan Goldin acquisition
Senior curator and two volunteers stepped down over gallery’s vote not to acquire work
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Finally. This is what we expected. @mark-carney.bsky.social Now, to signal the values that you speak eloquently about: get rid of X Corp. on Canadian government funded platforms, publicly rid your personal stocks aligned with imperialist hegemony, and reaffirm your commitment to the environment.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Absolutely not. Palestine is not an asset to be governed by a board. This isn’t Brookfield. But, I’m sure the stocks in Carney’s blind trust portfolio, like X Corp. and Lockheed Martin will benefit from his seat. This PM is a colossal asshole who needs to be shown the door. @mark-carney.bsky.social
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
“enshittification slop”
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
“Many of his family members fought with the Allied forces against the Germans in World War II, and “I learned from them very early that what one does with Nazis is kill them,” he said at a 2023 conference on antinuclear activism in Johannesburg. “I am not a pacifist.”
nytimes.com
Renfrew Christie Dies at 76; Sabotaged Racist Regime’s Nuclear Program
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Ah. I get it @mark-carney.bsky.social your BAM stock options are tied to both X and Lockheed Martin… and, I bet, both stocks just went up. So it’s open season for Grok’s CSAM in Canada while you make a profit. I get it now. Are you also in the Epstein files?
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
@mark-carney.bsky.social @liberalca.bsky.social You’re not invited to the cottage. #heatedrivalry
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
I mean, isn’t this covered by The Charter? Can’t we ask the Supreme Court for a ruling? Any form of government, any government funded organization (universities, artist-run centers, museums, etc.) should be told to deplatform from any networked social media that promotes CSAM—or risk their funding.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 11/01/2026
Note to @mayoroliviachow.ca maybe in 2026 you and your negligent PR team could communicate some meaningful change in Toronto (or better communicate why the province stands in the way of progress) with a platform that meets our basic needs like working transit, rental costs, and public services.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
@nytimes.com These are your photo-editors? I’ve never seen people more out-of-touch. These three people underscore everything wrong with the divisions of wealth in American culture writ large. A celebratory photo of Mary Boone, Schnabel, et al., as a significant representation of the year? Assholes.
nytimes.com
Video: The Defining Culture Visuals of 2025
Three photo editors from the Culture desk share their favorite images from 2025.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
In Canada I’m watching the 60 Minutes CECOT piece CBS shelved. It’s a short item and at its core is an investigation of a Berkeley forensic study of already widely available material, specifically influencer videos of the prison (yes, that’s right).
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Lovely. She’s a force. Nice to see it recognized with this award.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Unfortunately, agree: and correct to point to the curation and not the art, some of which could done its thing if not assaulted by a lack of perspective and a deadening flow of space. Missing a plot, flummoxed, and flat; but the Freddy Villalobos work did emerge amidst the surfacing.
hyperallergic.com
Made in L.A.’s Anti-Curation Doesn’t Work
The curators’ self described “no-methodology methodology” results in a scattered exhibition that feels bland and curatorially unimaginative.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Bari Weiss CBS journalism, CBS News 24/7 this evening… anchor Dana Jacobson: “You may know Gustav Klimt as the artist who put a banana on a wall. Well, he’s at it again. This time selling a work for $240 million dollars.” Yup, no DEI, but all AI.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
@armineyalnizyan.bsky.social In your Considerations for Preparing the Next Federal Budget of Canada, you wrote: “At 13.7% of GDP… health & social assistance and education are the biggest drivers of the Canadian economy”. What is your reaction to these reductions? Can you outline the logic? Thanks!
thestar.com
Canada will reduce international student permits by more than half, budget reveals
“The new study permit caps further erode Canada’s reputation,” said one critic of Ottawa’s plan to next year limit new international student permits to 150,000 from a previous target of 305,900.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
@vgasparro.bsky.social @mark-carney.bsky.social www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Kneecap rapper Mo Chara's terror case thrown out
The case against Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh is thrown out following a technical error in the way the charge against him was brought.
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Jean-Paul Kelly @jeanpaulkelly.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
@vgasparro.bsky.social Is your next step against free speech and Charter Rights to start lawsuits against the press, intimidation of the judiciary, and silencing by military threat? @mark-carney.bsky.social Remove him from caucus now. Your elbows are slipping.
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