Creative Australia reinstates artist Khaled Sabsabi for Venice Biennale

SBS Australia

8 hours ago

Artistic duo Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino have been re-invited to represent Australia at the 2026 Venice Biennale - a prestigious event for artists from around the world. The about-face was triggered by an independent review of Creative Australia's original decision made in February - when they revoked the invite - hoping to avoid what it described as divisive debate. The move drew wide-spread condemnation from the arts community, many seeing it as limiting artistic freedoms and increasing censorship. Penelope Benton, Executive Director of the National Association for the Visual Arts, welcomes Creative Australia's decision to restore their invitation. "Artistic freedom and independent decision making are fundamental to the role of a national arts body. And these principles need to be upheld, and I think this marks a turning point in reaffirming our commitment to those principles, and improving practices to ensure this never happens again." The move to rescind the pair's invitation came days after the Coalition questioned why the pair was chosen in the first place, drawing attention to two of Khaled Sabsabi's pieces from nearly 20 years ago, neither of which were submitted to the Venice Biennale. The first a video and sound installation called 'You', depicting the late leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. The other 'Thank you very much' - which includes a video of the September 11 attacks. Alex Ryvchin, the co-Chief Executive Officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, says the works make him doubtful Mr Sabsabi is the right choice to represent Australia. "It's not a matter of he shouldn't be allowed to paint in this way or create art in this way. It's the question of is this the best person to represent Australian art. We have such rich stocks of wonderfully talented artists in this country, the vast majority of whom have never honoured terrorists' leaders and terrorist events in this way." But Ms Benton says this doesn't recognise the critical perspective Mr Sabsabi is taking in these works. "There's been a great deal of writing, critique, by art theorists, curators over a long period of time analysing these works and recognising them as commentary on propaganda and mass-media. They were never an endorsement of terrorism." The inquiry found Creative Australia exercised its judgment in accordance with its obligations outlined by federal law, and no single person was to blame, but that there were a series of missteps, assumptions and missed opportunities. Creative Australia's acting chair, Wesley Enoch, told ABC radio the organisation stands by their decision to reinstate the pair as Australia's representatives. "I want to apologise to them for the hurt they've gone through in this process and though we'll be stronger because of it, I know it's come at a personal cost, not just to them, but also to a whole range of people in the art community. I feel that we as Creative Australia need to help the whole sector learn some of these lessons going forward." Sara Mansour is a Lebanese Australian lawyer, artist, poet and co-founder of the Bankstown Poetry Slam. She tells SBS Arabic she is relieved by the decision. 'Yeah, I am really elated. It's kind of reinstated my hope in the Australian private sector and creative Australia specifically. It's illustrated the importance of risk mitigation and risk management procedures. As an artist, I feel like my faith has been restored.' In a statement the artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino said: "This decision has renewed our confidence in Creative Australia and in the integrity of its selection process, and allows us to move forward with optimism and hope after a period of significant personal and collective hardship."