Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin torches Australia's creative industry and its minister Tony Burke after backflip on controversial artist
Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin rebuked Mr Burke and Creative Australia for re-adding Khaled Sabsabi, whose art has depicted a former terrorist leader and 9/11 archival footage.
Creative Australia, the nation's top arts council, moved to reinstate Mr Sabsabi and his curator Michael Dagostino as representatives to a prestigious art festival on Wednesday, later issuing a lengthy public apology.
They were dumped in February due to concerns over historic artworks, with one artwork, titled 'Thank You Very Much' (2006), depicting archival footage of the 9/11 attacks.
The second piece titled 'You' included footage of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declaring 'divine victory'.
The sacking prompted outrage from the artistic community and became a public relations nightmare for Creative Australia's board.
Mr Ryvchin said the reinstatement of Mr Sabasi 'raises a lot of questions about process' after his works were deemed too controversial in February.
'Suddenly something has transpired in the intervening months to make him fit again, and worthy of an apology and reinstatement,' Mr Ryvchin told Sky News on Thursday.
'His artwork … (is) at best ambiguous and at worst flattering and honorific.'
The Jewish leader said he thought the artist needed to explain his intentions, particularly during the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Mr Ryvchin said Mr Sabasi had not clearly explained that he did not want to depict the terrorist leader in a glorifying way, but rather wanted to 'stoke controversy and create debate'.
The Jewish leader defended artistic freedom of expression, but questioned if Mr Sabasi was the best Australia had to offer.
'It's a question of whether this guy is the best that we have to represent Australia on the world stage,' he said.
'Is this the best we can do?
'What does it say about our artistic scene, about our cultural scene, and what does it about the arts as being a place of inclusion and tolerance, which it professes to be?'
Mr Ryvchin said the artistic sector had increasingly become eroded as its people harbour a 'very narrow political agenda'.
The Jewish leader scolded the Arts Minister for being ambiguous and undecisive, and questioned if the move to reinstate the artist was odds with Australia's values.
However, Mr Burke said the artworks were the 'exact opposite of something that could be seen to promote terrorism,' and pointed to Creative Australia's report to justify the artist's reinstatement.
Asked about Mr Burke's backflip, the Jewish leader said the Arts Minister referred to the report as revealing that the art was never intended to glorify terrorism.
'But when you actually read through the report, it doesn't say anything of the sort. It talks about processes and the need to do things a little bit better and so forth,' he said.
'But in terms of the art itself and how it's interpreted and whether it accords with Australian values and whether he should have been nominated in the first place to represent Australia, (it) doesn't say anything about that.
'So the fact that he's now been given this lavish apology reinstated, it's a great victory not only to the artist himself, who appears to be of dubious character and integrity given the nature of his works, but also to people that revel in this sort of thing, that believe that the arts should be going more and more in a particular ideological direction.'
Mr Ryvchin said the artist representing the country at the Vienna Biennale was a 'blight on our Australian culture."
He said the country had 'many wonderful, talented artists' who were far more deserving than someone who held veiled views towards terror leaders and atrocities.
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ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
Why did Creative Australia backflip on Venice Biennale decision?
Unanswered questions remain after Creative Australia backflipped on a decision to dump renowned Lebanese Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as Australia's representatives at the 2026 Venice Biennale.
Perth Now
6 hours ago
- Perth Now
Little trust in Creative Australia after Venice snafu
Trust in Australia's principal arts funding body Creative Australia has reached an all time low in the wake of the Venice Biennale controversy, according to culture sector researcher Ben Eltham. In February, the body axed artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as its picks for the Venice Biennale, prompted by Sabsabi's early works being raised in federal parliament. Creative Australia announced the pair had been reinstated on Wednesday. The Biennale is regarded as the Olympics of the art world, with Australia winning the prestigious Golden Lion - the equivalent of a gold medal - for its official showing at the last event in 2024. An independent review of the episode commissioned by Creative Australia revealed cowardice and incompetence at the agency, Eltham argued. "The sector's trust is at an all time low, it's poisoned the well," he said. "There's deep suspicion of Creative Australia's integrity in the wake of this controversy." The review by consultants Blackhall and Pearl found Creative Australia has a "considerable task" ahead to rebuild trust with parts of the creative community and some of its own employees. Sabsabi's gallerist Josh Milani also agreed trust has been "greatly diminished", but said the decision to reinstate the artistic team will allow healing to begin. "Creative Australia have chosen to act - if they hadn't, I think there would be an absolute outcry now ... it would seem that we're on a path towards rebuilding trust." Senior staff at Creative Australia resigned in the immediate aftermath of the decision, while board chair Robert Morgan retired in May, replaced by acting chair Wesley Enoch. Creative Australia has a federal budget allocation of $312 million for 25/26 and hands out grants across all areas of the creative arts under the leadership of chief executive Adrian Collette, who was reappointed for a second five year term in January 2024. The review does not make specific findings against Collette or anyone else, but it found arts minister Tony Burke had not been properly briefed on Sabsabi's early artworks, before they were questioned in parliament in February. It also revealed a divided workplace at the agency, in which visual arts and communications staff operated in silos and held differing views on who was responsible for risk identification and management. Legislation sets out Creative Australia's duty to uphold freedom of expression in the arts, but the review found it also has a responsibility under separate laws to promote "the proper use and management of public resources". Eltham believes this leaves the door open for more controversies like the Venice Biennale saga in future. "If they're going to start to test arts grants against some nebulous value for money or public accountability criteria, that opens all sorts of avenues for grants to be cancelled or uncommissioned," he said. The former director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Max Delany, has also argued the review fails to deal with critical underlying issues and causes. "Chief among these is the pernicious, vexatious, and corrosive influence of lobbyists, conservative media, and culture warriors on our public discourse and on the integrity of our cultural institutions—forces that remain largely unexamined in its findings," he said. Creative Australia had learnt from the review, Adrian Collette said in a statement issued via email. "The decision the Board took in February has weighed heavily on many people, most particularly the artistic team and for that we are sorry," he said. "We are also sorry that this has caused concern and uncertainty for many in the broader arts community and we are committed to rebuilding trust in our processes for the commissioning of the Venice Biennale."
Sydney Morning Herald
10 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The inside story of how Australia's moment to shine in the arts world went horribly wrong
The historic grip of major galleries over Australia's representatives had been broken, and the newish selection process seemed to be serving Australia well. On December 16 last year, Collette and Creative Australia's head of visual arts, Mikala Tai, conferred and the pair's selection was confirmed, the decision tightly held in the organisation for weeks for fear it would leak. Among the select few with knowledge of the successful team, the decision was regarded as 'bold' or 'courageous' – Sabsabi's Lebanese heritage and public pro-Palestinian stance connected him to the Middle East at a time when conflict in that region was emotive and polarising. But a week before the planned February 7 announcement, police lobbed their own explosive device into this febrile mix, going public with their investigations into a caravan loaded with explosives in north-west Sydney. The incident was quickly labelled a 'terrorism threat', although later the Federal Police would describe it as 'a criminal con job'. By then, a federal election was imminent and polling showed voters were starting to turn against Labor. Loading Two days after the caravan discovery, Creative Australia briefed Minister for Arts Tony Burke on its upcoming announcement. Mention was made in the ministerial dispatch that Sabsabi, along with other artists, had withdrawn from the Sydney Festival in 2022 in protest after the festival accepted funding from the Israeli Embassy, 'out of solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian cause'. But the minister's office was not alerted to historical works which would later be raised in the Murdoch press and in parliament, including You (2007), a multichannel video and sound installation featuring imagery of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art. 'That the work was seen as highly ambiguous, and already nearly 20 years old … appears to have given staff confidence that any controversy connected with the work could be managed,' the report says. A staff member later left a message with Burke's office alerting them to the work's existence but appears not to have followed that call up. A 'questionable' matter The board of Creative Australia was backgrounded on the winning team but played no direct role in the selection process. Members were not alerted to any potential controversies. Days after the team's announcement, as its sister tabloid paper defended allegations it tried to entrap a Sydney cafe in an antisemitic sting, The Australian described Sabsabi's use of imagery of Nasrallah as 'ambiguous' and 'questionable'. Collette and senior members of his team were unaware of a second sensitive work, Thank you very much (2006) featuring imagery of the 9/11 attacks and US President George W. Bush, until Senate question time two days later when the Coalition's then-shadow arts minster Claire Chandler rose to her feet. By all accounts, Chandler's questions sparked panic. Soon after, around 3pm, the CEO, chair and head of public affairs held a call with Creative Australia's external communications advisers, who concluded the negative media narrative around the artist and his prior artworks posed a significant risk to the reputation of Creative Australia if the stories continued to run. Burke then called Adrian Collette at 3.30pm asking why he was not alerted to the contentious artwork. He later insisted he did not demand Sabsabi's head. The report found that the minister's statement was consistent with the information received by the panel during its review. Loading Collette later recalled in testimony to Senate estimates: 'We anticipate always that the selection of the Venice artist will be controversial. It has been from time immemorial. 'Everyone has a view on the artist, on the art. We don't resile from any of those decisions; we haven't in the past. But what happened at that moment was a recognition by me and the board that this entire process was going to be mired in the worst kind of divisive debate.' At 6.05pm an emergency meeting of the board had been convened, and it was determined to offer the artistic team the opportunity to withdraw from the project under threat of sacking. The board did not seek the advice of the head of visual arts or its head of communications, and did not allow the artist to present his case. It was beyond the panel's terms of reference to judge the legitimacy of the board's decision, but it's clear the board acted hastily without drawing breath. The board could have announced a review of the team's selection. Instead, it brought a gun. 'Nobody except those involved can ever know how fraught and heartbreaking that meeting was,' board member and artist Lindy Lee later recalled. She resigned the next day. Officially, the board said it acted to avoid the unacceptable risk to public support for Australia's artistic community of a 'prolonged and divisive debate'. The panel found the board felt compelled by 'a strongly negative narrative [that] was expected in the media around the artworks and the artist, and the decision to select the artist had become a matter of political debate'. Another factor that may have been weighing on some board members was the potential for the controversy to be used as a battering ram to reduce the funding and independence of Creative Australia. With an election imminent, Creative Australia faced an existential threat from cuts, real or imagined, as conservatives made every noise they would follow the playbook of Donald Trump in stirring up the culture wars. Notably, it is in a more benign political environment with Labor securing a thumping majority that Sabsabi and Dagostino have now been reinstated. In any event, at 7.41pm on February 13, Collette contacted the artistic team and advised them of the board's decision. Sabsabi and Dagostino refused to resign. Forty minutes later, after the board's statement was prepared, Collette made three unsuccessful attempts to contact them. Sabsabi and Dagostino later recalled being stunned by the turn of events: 'The Venice Biennale is one of the biggest platforms in Australian art,' Sabsabi told this masthead. 'To be selected and then have it withdrawn was devastating. It was heartbreaking and has caused ongoing anxiety. It's had a serious impact on my career, my wellbeing and my family's wellbeing.' By 6pm the following day the Herald had broken the news that philanthropist Simon Mordant had resigned, along with Mikala Tai and program manager Tahmina Maskinyar. Petitions and protests followed, the outrage lasting four months until the board voted two weeks ago to rescind its decision. Had Creative Australia been as well-prepared for the public announcement as it should have been, it is possible that its senior leadership and board may have reached a conclusion that any controversy around both works could be sensibly managed, the report concluded. The organisation was caught between its conflicting desire to do right by the artists and political realities. Ultimately, the entire mess could have been avoided if cooler heads had prevailed and due processes were followed. Changes afoot Former publisher Louise Adler is not the only commentator to draw parallels between the Sabsabi debacle and Antoinette Lattouf, the radio broadcaster who was last week awarded $70,000 after a Federal Court found she was unfairly sacked by the ABC for her political opinions concerning the war in Gaza. Like Lattouf, Sabsabi's pro-Palestinian views were well known at the time of his appointment, and complaints flooded Creative Australia as soon as the appointment was publicised, cheered on by the Murdoch media. Holding or expressing a political opinion was held by the federal court as not a valid reason for terminating Lattouf's employment, even at the national broadcaster. Sabsabi and Dagostino had been selected by an open expression of interest process, by an organisation founded on the principle of artistic independence. Both stand as an abject lesson to the dangers of knee-jerk reactions to pressure tactics. Sabsabi and Dagostino speak of a sense of renewed confidence that allows them to move forward with optimism and hope after a period of significant and collective hardship. The arts world feels vindicated by their intervention. Loading It's likely there will be changes to the Venice selection process, and there is every indication that Collette, an experienced arts administrator, will seek to make things right, and then make a diplomatic exit. 'At the end of the day, Adrian became the kingmaker,' said one campaigner. 'He brought the recommendation to the board. The buck stops with him.' Mikala Tai made a rare statement via social media after a period of media silence in which she said she had come to learn why she wanted to work in the arts industry. 'I have also learnt a lot about cultural leadership. That we have conferred leadership on administrators and that this is a distraction from the fact that artists remain the heart of the industry and that the moment we forget the artist, we sacrifice the industry.'
