A senior curator and two collections committee volunteers have resigned from the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) after the institution voted against acquiring a new slideshow work by artist Nan Goldin. The purchase was rejected by an 11-9 vote, with some committee members finding Goldin's November 2024 speech denouncing Israel's attacks on Gaza as genocide to be "offensive" and "antisemitic." Goldin had spoken at the Berlin opening of her traveling retrospective, expressing moral outrage and arguing that calling anti-Zionism antisemitic is a false equivalency. The AGO's modern and contemporary curator, John Zeppetelli, stepped down allegedly because of the incident, while the Vancouver Art Gallery and Walker Art Center proceeded with their part of the acquisition.
This controversy highlights the growing tension between artistic freedom of speech and institutional politics, particularly around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Goldin's career has reportedly suffered due to her outspokenness, with sales declining and a reported WhatsApp chain aiming to blacklist artists who signed the Artforum letter. The resignations at a major Canadian museum underscore how geopolitical issues are increasingly affecting art-world decisions, from acquisitions to exhibitions, and raise questions about censorship, institutional neutrality, and the limits of free expression in the arts.