Hrag Vartanian
@hrag.bsky.social
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.
I tweet about art and politics because art doesn't exist in a vacuum.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Every day, Pulitzer winner @edyong209.bsky.social's courageous decision to quit The Atlantic looks better in hindsight
"I would place it somewhere on the creative nonfiction spectrum." www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/the-...
The Atlantic’s Elizabeth Bruenig on her “hypothetical,” heavily reported measles essay
"We were attracted to the idea of providing a play-by-play of the progression of measles in granular detail."
www.niemanlab.org
February 13, 2026 at 7:40 PM
Every day, Pulitzer winner @edyong209.bsky.social's courageous decision to quit The Atlantic looks better in hindsight
I have to quit Instagram. It’s hell.
February 13, 2026 at 7:42 PM
I have to quit Instagram. It’s hell.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Right-wing media coverage of this case followed a clear pattern of hyping dubious claims by DHS that would later turn out to be false.
February 13, 2026 at 7:34 PM
Right-wing media coverage of this case followed a clear pattern of hyping dubious claims by DHS that would later turn out to be false.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
I’m just going to leave this here
February 13, 2026 at 5:54 PM
I’m just going to leave this here
What did you all expect from The Atlantic? It’s edited my a former IDF prison guard in an apartheid state.
February 13, 2026 at 2:37 AM
What did you all expect from The Atlantic? It’s edited my a former IDF prison guard in an apartheid state.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
It would be embarrassing under any circumstances to spend a year on this reactionary horseshit, but to have spent the year in which graduate students were sent to concentration camps for op-eds and the federal govt launched a no hold barred attack on academic freedom is just beyond
February 13, 2026 at 1:46 AM
It would be embarrassing under any circumstances to spend a year on this reactionary horseshit, but to have spent the year in which graduate students were sent to concentration camps for op-eds and the federal govt launched a no hold barred attack on academic freedom is just beyond
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Dear friends on Bluesky, it's been an overwhelming week since the mass layoff at the Post. I'll be continuing the work and would be so grateful if you sign up here to keep up with my future journalism. docs.google.com/forms/d/1dlh...
Ishaan Tharoor — Follow my work
Please share your email address so I can keep you posted.
docs.google.com
February 12, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Dear friends on Bluesky, it's been an overwhelming week since the mass layoff at the Post. I'll be continuing the work and would be so grateful if you sign up here to keep up with my future journalism. docs.google.com/forms/d/1dlh...
Listening to Norman Finkelstein’s lecture at the 18th Palestine Convention by the American Muslims for Palestine and boy is the reality check he’s giving us depressing.
18th Palestine Convention | Gaza is the World
YouTube video by American Muslims for Palestine
youtu.be
February 12, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Listening to Norman Finkelstein’s lecture at the 18th Palestine Convention by the American Muslims for Palestine and boy is the reality check he’s giving us depressing.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
I'm a Gallup pollster. You can contact them at [email protected] to let them know what you think of this.
February 11, 2026 at 8:10 PM
I'm a Gallup pollster. You can contact them at [email protected] to let them know what you think of this.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
As someone who more or less agrees with a lot of left-liberal criticism of actually existing socialist foreign policy thinking in the US, I still find it silly that people on here like to pretend that Brett McGurk or Anthony Blinken have less influence than glup shitto who canvasses for PSL
February 10, 2026 at 7:38 PM
As someone who more or less agrees with a lot of left-liberal criticism of actually existing socialist foreign policy thinking in the US, I still find it silly that people on here like to pretend that Brett McGurk or Anthony Blinken have less influence than glup shitto who canvasses for PSL
The US government removed the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument’s official flagpole. Unbelievable 🏳️🌈
Pride Flag Removed From Stonewall Monument at Trump’s Directive
The move comes a year after the National Park Service scrubbed mentions of queer and trans people from its website, prompting protests at the NYC landmark.
hyperallergic.com
February 10, 2026 at 11:01 PM
The US government removed the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument’s official flagpole. Unbelievable 🏳️🌈
The artists for MoMA PS1’s Greater New York have been announced ⤵️
These Are the Artists in MoMA PS1’s Greater New York Show
On its 50th anniversary year, the Queens-based museum tapped 53 local artists for the sixth edition of its cross-borough survey.
hyperallergic.com
February 10, 2026 at 7:13 PM
The artists for MoMA PS1’s Greater New York have been announced ⤵️
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Must read: @adambroomberg.bsky.social writes about Israel’s plan to artwash genocide at the Venice Biennale: “This is the danger of the liberal Zionist position. It offers the language of conscience and dialogue while absolving itself of engagement or responsibility.”
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.
hyperallergic.com
February 9, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Must read: @adambroomberg.bsky.social writes about Israel’s plan to artwash genocide at the Venice Biennale: “This is the danger of the liberal Zionist position. It offers the language of conscience and dialogue while absolving itself of engagement or responsibility.”
Must read: @adambroomberg.bsky.social writes about Israel’s plan to artwash genocide at the Venice Biennale: “This is the danger of the liberal Zionist position. It offers the language of conscience and dialogue while absolving itself of engagement or responsibility.”
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.
hyperallergic.com
February 9, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Must read: @adambroomberg.bsky.social writes about Israel’s plan to artwash genocide at the Venice Biennale: “This is the danger of the liberal Zionist position. It offers the language of conscience and dialogue while absolving itself of engagement or responsibility.”
Did Bad Bunny say Greenland?
February 9, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Did Bad Bunny say Greenland?
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Sports reporter with NBC News reporting that the couple in Bad Bunny’s halftime show got married for real
February 9, 2026 at 2:14 AM
Sports reporter with NBC News reporting that the couple in Bad Bunny’s halftime show got married for real
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
This regime doesn’t care about families. The MAGA/GOP doesn’t care about families. They believe in brutality and cruelty.
Remember these stories when you go to the polls. You think it can’t happen to you? It can and it will. Maybe not today or tomorrow but it will happen. You are a pawn.
Remember these stories when you go to the polls. You think it can’t happen to you? It can and it will. Maybe not today or tomorrow but it will happen. You are a pawn.
Denied his father’s care, a disabled son died after ICE detained dad
Federal immigration officials refused to free Maher Tarabishi to care for his disabled son. When the son died, ICE wouldn't let him go to the funeral.
www.usatoday.com
February 8, 2026 at 9:07 PM
This regime doesn’t care about families. The MAGA/GOP doesn’t care about families. They believe in brutality and cruelty.
Remember these stories when you go to the polls. You think it can’t happen to you? It can and it will. Maybe not today or tomorrow but it will happen. You are a pawn.
Remember these stories when you go to the polls. You think it can’t happen to you? It can and it will. Maybe not today or tomorrow but it will happen. You are a pawn.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Exit polls show socialist Antonio Jose Seguro has crushed the Far Right candidate Andre Ventura in Portugal’s presidential runoff.
February 8, 2026 at 8:20 PM
Exit polls show socialist Antonio Jose Seguro has crushed the Far Right candidate Andre Ventura in Portugal’s presidential runoff.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
i will not engage those files directly because, as a survivor of CSA, i know that doing so will harm my well-being. but other survivors may decide to do so, from their own self-awareness & for many different reasons. there is no one-size approach to this stuff.
February 8, 2026 at 7:09 PM
i will not engage those files directly because, as a survivor of CSA, i know that doing so will harm my well-being. but other survivors may decide to do so, from their own self-awareness & for many different reasons. there is no one-size approach to this stuff.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
“We cannot just abolish ICE!”
Bestie, you are older than ICE.
Bestie, you are older than ICE.
February 8, 2026 at 3:56 PM
“We cannot just abolish ICE!”
Bestie, you are older than ICE.
Bestie, you are older than ICE.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
“Lorin Stein, the disgraced former editor of The Paris Review who resigned after accusations of sexual impropriety, forwarded to Wolff an email from the writer Stephen Elliott, who intended to sue the list’s creator… Epstein promises to ‘help anyway i can.’”
How the men in the Epstein files defeated #MeToo
The emails show the “anti-woke” crusaders are afraid of accountability.
www.theverge.com
February 8, 2026 at 6:23 PM
“Lorin Stein, the disgraced former editor of The Paris Review who resigned after accusations of sexual impropriety, forwarded to Wolff an email from the writer Stephen Elliott, who intended to sue the list’s creator… Epstein promises to ‘help anyway i can.’”
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
oooh we are posting super bowls?
As a specialist in Islamic ceramics *cracks knuckles* I present this fabulous 11th c. lustre painted bowl from Fatimid Cairo depicting a Coptic priest. Its white glaze imitates Chinese porcelain and the lustre technique was invented in Iraq a century earlier.
As a specialist in Islamic ceramics *cracks knuckles* I present this fabulous 11th c. lustre painted bowl from Fatimid Cairo depicting a Coptic priest. Its white glaze imitates Chinese porcelain and the lustre technique was invented in Iraq a century earlier.
February 8, 2026 at 5:04 PM
oooh we are posting super bowls?
As a specialist in Islamic ceramics *cracks knuckles* I present this fabulous 11th c. lustre painted bowl from Fatimid Cairo depicting a Coptic priest. Its white glaze imitates Chinese porcelain and the lustre technique was invented in Iraq a century earlier.
As a specialist in Islamic ceramics *cracks knuckles* I present this fabulous 11th c. lustre painted bowl from Fatimid Cairo depicting a Coptic priest. Its white glaze imitates Chinese porcelain and the lustre technique was invented in Iraq a century earlier.
Reposted by Hrag Vartanian
Born deaf on an Idaho farm on the eve of the 20th century and isolated from the art world his entire life, James Castle seemed to have arrived independently at some of the most radical tenets of mid-century abstraction.
James Castle Was a World Unto Himself
These works feel almost metaphysically transportive — like a universe bound by a different set of rules that’s a pleasure to explore.
hyperallergic.com
February 8, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Born deaf on an Idaho farm on the eve of the 20th century and isolated from the art world his entire life, James Castle seemed to have arrived independently at some of the most radical tenets of mid-century abstraction.