Dumped artist Khaled Sabsabi speaks out about impact of Creative Australia's Venice Biennale decision

Khaled Sabsabi, the Lebanese-Australian artist dumped as Australia's representative at the 2026 Venice Biennale, has spoken publicly for the first time since Creative Australia withdrew his highly prized commission.

In an interview with ABC Radio National's The Art Show, Sabsabi described the impact of the Commonwealth arts funding body's February decision as "devastating".

He says two artworks that triggered Creative Australia's decision — raised first in the media and later in parliament — have been "grossly misrepresented".

"I am an artist, I am a storyteller. [The power of art] lies within the possibility of creating conversations and platforms, even if we as a society find those conversations to be difficult.

"But regardless, as a cohesive society, we need to have these conversations."

Sabsabi says he was both pleasantly surprised and shocked by the decision to award the Venice contract to him and curator Michael Dagostino, a longtime collaborator, after missing out on three previous occasions.

"There was a sense of joy, an extreme sense of joy, disbelief, shock, to be accepted in that context — as a migrant … as a Muslim.

Sabsabi was 11 when his family emigrated to Australia from war-torn Lebanon in 1977.

He grew up in Western Sydney, as did Dagostino, with whom Sabsabi formed what's known as "the artistic team" for the next instalment of the Venice Biennale in 2026.

"It [was] extraordinary, not just for me but my family, my community," Sabsabi says.

"I'm not unique. Australia is built on multiculturalism and the idea of a very diverse society. So it was quite a validating acknowledgement for myself, and also for Michael as well."

'Weaponised' artwork

Sabsabi says his artwork has been misread.

"Every faith has the right to exist and coexist. Our [Venice Biennale] proposal was about existence and coexistence. I don't understand, I really don't understand [the criticism of older artworks]. Actually I find it quite disgusting, to be honest with you," Sabsabi says.

Days after Sabsabi's appointment was announced, the decision was questioned in a business column in The Australian newspaper, which identified two works by Sabsabi — an 18-second video called Thank You Very Much from 2006; and the 2007 video work YOU, now in the collection of Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art.

Thank You Very Much includes footage of the hijacked second plane crashing into New York's Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.

The footage is coupled with vision of then US President George W Bush thanking first responders in the days immediately following the attacks, before he launched the war on terror in retaliation.

YOU, a multi-channel video and sound installation first exhibited in 2007, features Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of the Lebanese political party and militant group Hezbollah, who was killed in an Israeli air-strike in 2024.

Hezbollah was not listed as a proscribed terrorist organisation by the Australian government until 2021. 

The day after the column appeared in The Australian, the federal opposition's arts spokesperson, Claire Chandler, raised Sabsabi's appointment during Question Time in the Senate.

Senator Chandler accused Labor of using taxpayer funds to showcase an artist who had "repeatedly depicted terrorists and terrorist acts".

Senator Chandler directed her question to the Minister representing the Prime Minister in the Upper House, Senator Penny Wong.

"With such appalling anti-Semitism in our country, why is the Albanese government allowing a person who highlights a terrorist leader in his artwork to represent Australia on the international stage at the Venice Biennale?", she asked.

In a supplementary question, she accused Sabsabi of "promoting Osama bin Laden".

"Will the Albanese government immediately reverse the decision for Mr Sabsabi to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale?" Senator Chandler said.

Artworks 'misrepresented'

Sabsabi strongly rejects the characterisation of him in parliament and the media.

"Those works are about the brutality of war and the sensationalism of propaganda, and how propaganda starts with one ideology or idea, and it manifests itself and grows and grows … to become a distortion. It's important to understand that," Sabsabi says.

He has expressed concern that these artworks in particular have raised objections nearly two decades after their creation, adding that he is not aware of any complaints from any member of the public when they were first exhibited in 2006 and 2007 or subsequently.

Furthermore, "this is not the proposal that we put for Venice 2026", Sabsabi says.

Why Sabsabi was dumped

Sabsabi was selected as Australia's representative to the world's oldest biennial exhibition of contemporary art in December 2024, although the decision was not announced publicly until early February.

The appointment followed a competitive tender process overseen by Creative Australia, with candidates shortlisted by a panel of local and overseas arts industry advisers.

It is understood that the panel never met as a group, but made their recommendations individually to Creative Australia, with overseas-based panel members doing so via video conference.

As the commissioning body, the final decision was made by Creative Australia's CEO, Adrian Collette, and the organisation's former head of visual arts, Mikala Tai. 

The selection process, which differs slightly from that used to determine Australia's last three representative artists, is now the subject of a review called by Creative Australia.

A series of events followed Senator Chandler's comments that would prove decisive.

The Arts Minister, Tony Burke, phoned Adrian Collette, who — by his own admission — had already phoned Robert Morgan, the chair of the Board, after being tipped off about Senator Chandler's questions in parliament.

Speaking on Arts in 30, Mr Burke denied he interfered in Creative Australia's decision-making.

Briefing notes are prepared for the minister in case such matters are raised in Parliament, and he says his phone call related to apparent omissions in the background material provided by Creative Australia.

Collette and Morgan resolved to summon an extraordinary meeting of the board within hours (one board member, Professor Larissa Behrendt, was absent and largely uncontactable while on a trip to Norfolk Island).

The board met for an hour and a half, and, Collette told Senates estimates, there were "no dissenting voices" when voting to rescind the Venice commission publicly awarded to the artistic team of Sabsabi and Dagostino six days earlier.

Creative Australia defended the move in a statement, saying it had acted to maintain social cohesion and to prevent "a prolonged and divisive debate" which might erode public support for the arts.

Sabsabi was informed that a board meeting had been called, and according to Collette's evidence to a Senate Estimates hearing, was called on to briefly explain the artworks in question.

Collette testified that he later phoned Sabsabi to notify him of the board's decision but that he did not speak to Sabsabi himself, because the artist was too upset to speak.

The next day, two key players in Australia's Venice participation, Creative Australia's head of visual arts, Mikala Tai, and project manager Tahmina Maskinyar resigned.

The only visual artist on the board, Lindy Lee, also quit.

Increasing polarisation

It pays to consider the highly pressurised environment in which Creative Australia's decision was made.

Reported incidents of anti-Semitism have been on the rise since the Hamas incursion into Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered the war on Gaza.

In the same period, reported incidents of Islamophobia have also spiked.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Australia's cultural sector has been riven by the Gaza war, mirroring — and, at times, exceeding — the toxicity and polarisation in public discourse.

The discord has swept across the sector, engulfing the Australian arts community in ways that before October 7 would have been hard to predict.

So where does that leave Khaled Sabsabi?

Sabsabi's gallerist, Josh Milani, of Brisbane's Milani Gallery, says unless the peak body for the arts moves to reinstate the artist, "his career is finished", citing the chilling effect of Creative Australia's decision on Melbourne's Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA).

Flat Earth, an exhibition featuring Sabsabi was scheduled to open in June, but has been "postponed" indefinitely.

In a statement issued last week, a Monash University spokesperson said it had "identified a need for the museum to deepen its collaboration and engagement" on the exhibition.

The Monash University spokesperson said that the postponement followed "consultation with our communities".

Since the backflip, Creative Australia has been under attack from the community it was constituted by the Albanese government to serve.

It has been accused by many of betraying the principle of artistic freedom and of yielding to political interference — at odds with one of its primary functions: to operate at arm's length from government.

It has also garnered criticism from a broad section of the visual arts community, one of the core stakeholder groups and main beneficiaries of the funds it disburses on behalf of the Commonwealth.

The board's unprecedented decision to revoke Sabsabi and Dagostino's commission has also exposed the peak arts body to claims that it overreacted to media and political pressure.

Almost immediately, the artists and curators shortlisted for the Venice Biennale 2026 — Sabsabi's competition — unanimously and strongly condemned the decision.

In a joint statement, they pre-emptively refused any prospective offer by Creative Australia to accept what they regarded to be a tainted commission.

It leaves open the very real possibility that the Australia Pavilion will be mothballed in 2026, following Australia's most successful outing ever in 2024.

Despite being targeted by sections of the media for his use of social media, Kamilaroi and Bigambul artist Archie Moore won Australia the coveted Golden Lion for best national participation, with curator Ellie Buttrose.

Every curator to represent Australia in Venice — with one exception — signed an open letter to Creative Australia urging that Sabsabi and Dagostino be reinstated and for transparency over the decision-making processes that led to the sacking of the artistic team.

Desire to 'move beyond'

Milani has published an impact statement detailing the personal harm and reputational damage he says Creative Australia has inflicted on Sabsabi.

"Their decision had already set in motion the dismantling of his career and livelihood," Milani wrote.

"This indefinite postponement [by MUMA] is a direct result of Creative Australia's complete abandonment of him as an artist and a human being.

"They have allowed the mischaracterisation of him as a terrorist sympathiser to go unchecked. It should be clear, he is against terrorism and violence in all its forms and he is against racism in all its forms, including anti-Semitism.

"Creative Australia has not cleared Khaled's name — the spectre of misinformation about him and his work remains, and continues to dismantle and destroy his reputation, as the decision by Monash University exemplifies.

"The development also shows Creative Australia's conduct has empowered censorship within the arts sector," he wrote.

Milani argues that "reinstatement is the only way to heal the wound of this decision" and has urged the board of Creative Australia to "do the right thing".

Creative Australia did not respond to The Art Show's most recent request for an interview, but has said previously that it will await the findings of a review into the selection process before commenting, adding, "There is essential context that must be considered."

For his part, Sabsabi says the episode has profoundly shaken him, personally and professionally, and despite establishing a crowdfunding campaign to mount the exhibition he and Dagostino proposed for Venice, he is genuinely unsure of his future as an artist.

"I mean, we would like to be reinstated and move beyond this ridiculous situation.

"There is great uncertainty — even if this work will materialise. Everything has become so challenging for us. But we hope for the best. I mean, that's all we can do is hope for the best".