{"id":443668,"date":"2026-01-30T19:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T19:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/443668\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T19:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T19:54:08","slug":"ago-dissolving-committee-that-declined-to-acquire-a-nan-goldin-artwork","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/443668\/","title":{"rendered":"AGO dissolving committee that declined to acquire a Nan Goldin artwork"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Art of Gallery Ontario’s modern and contemporary collections committee narrowly voted against acquiring artwork from Nan Goldin.Cole Burston\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The Art Gallery of Ontario is dissolving the committee that declined to acquire a Nan Goldin artwork after a debate over whether the Jewish-American artist\u2019s views are \u201cantisemitic,\u201d which prompted four resignations and a governance review at the gallery.<\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail first reported last week<\/a> that the Toronto gallery\u2019s modern and contemporary collections committee narrowly voted to not acquire Ms. Goldin\u2019s video work, Stendhal Syndrome, after a heated discussion during a meeting in May, 2025. <\/p>\n

In the meeting, some committee members alleged that the Jewish-American artist\u2019s views on Israel were \u201coffensive\u201d and \u201cantisemitic,\u201d according to an internal memo from AGO director and chief executive Stephan Jost that was obtained by The Globe.<\/p>\n

Further documentation<\/a> reviewed by The Globe showed that the internal push not to acquire Stendhal Syndrome was prompted by the philanthropic executive Judy Schulich, who is also a trustee and significant donor to the AGO. The documentation shows that Ms. Schulich described the artist as a liar and propagandistic.<\/p>\n

The saga has captured the global art world, and Ms. Goldin is now among hundreds of signees of an open letter requesting Ms. Schulich resign as an AGO trustee.<\/p>\n

In an e-mail statement Friday, Mr. Jost acknowledged that the committee\u2019s purpose was undermined by the discussion of its members\u2019 political views of Ms. Goldin\u2019s stand on Israel and said it would be dissolved. \u201cI can assure you we are focused on our mission and working to take the necessary actions to ensure our processes are about art and respectful dialogue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The Art of Gallery Ontario’s modern and contemporary collections committee narrowly voted against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[901,76,354,888,355,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,356,46,549,75,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-443668","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-arts-news","12":"tag-artsanddesign","13":"tag-bc","14":"tag-breaking-news","15":"tag-breaking-news-video","16":"tag-british-columbia","17":"tag-ca","18":"tag-canada","19":"tag-canada-news","20":"tag-canada-sports","21":"tag-canada-sports-news","22":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","23":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","24":"tag-canadian-news","25":"tag-design","26":"tag-economy","27":"tag-education","28":"tag-entertainment","29":"tag-environment","30":"tag-federal-government","31":"tag-foreign-news","32":"tag-globe-and-mail","33":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","34":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","35":"tag-government","36":"tag-life-news","37":"tag-lifestyle","38":"tag-local-news","39":"tag-manitoba","40":"tag-national-news","41":"tag-new-brunswick","42":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","43":"tag-northwest-territories","44":"tag-nova-scotia","45":"tag-nunavut","46":"tag-ontario","47":"tag-pei","48":"tag-photos","49":"tag-political-news","50":"tag-political-opinion","51":"tag-politics","52":"tag-politics-news","53":"tag-quebec","54":"tag-sports-news","55":"tag-technology","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}