Khaled Sabsabi suddenly pulled from appearing at Venice Biennale 2026 by Creative Australia
By Hannah Story
Creative Australia announced late on Thursday, February 13, that it was dropping Sabsabi from the Venice Biennale. (ABC Radio Sydney: Declan Bowring)
The board of Creative Australia has announced that Lebanese Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi will no longer represent Australia at the 2026 Venice Biennale.
On February 13, the board — including chair Robert Morgan and other prominent Australian arts leaders such as Wesley Enoch, Larissa Behrendt and Lindy Lee — voted unanimously to remove Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as Australia's representatives.
"Creative Australia is an advocate for freedom of artistic expression and is not an adjudicator on the interpretation of art," the board wrote in a statement.
"However, the board believes a prolonged and divisive debate about the 2026 selection outcome poses an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia's artistic community and could undermine our goal of bringing Australians together through art and creativity."
The board's selection was announced on Friday February 7.
Sabsabi has had a 35-year career making video, mixed media and installation art, and exhibiting in more than 90 solo and group exhibitions in Australia and around the world, including the Adelaide Biennial of Art, the Biennale of Sydney, the Shanghai Biennale and the Marrakech Biennale.
Sabsabi was to appear at Venice with curator Michael Dagostino, founding director of Parramatta Artists' Studios (left). (Supplied: Anna Kucera)
He started his career as part of the hip hop community in Western Sydney, rapping under the name Peacefender, before moving into visual art in the 90s.
In its statement, Creative Australia also committed to reviewing the selection process for the Venice Biennale. Sabsabi and Dagostino were chosen based on the advice of a panel of visual arts experts: Anthony Gardner, Dunja Rmandić, Elaine Chia, Mariko Smith and Wassan Al-Khudhairi.
Why was Sabsabi dropped from Venice Biennale?
The removal of Sabsabi and Dagostino from the 2026 Venice Biennale follows discussion of Sabsabi's earlier work in Question Time on February 13. That earlier work included a 2007 video installation depicting the former leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah, and a 2006 work depicting the September 11 attacks.
Senator Claire Chandler asked Foreign Minister Penny Wong: "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?"
Wong replied that she wasn't aware of the details of Sabsabi's appointment and past artwork until then: "I agree with you that any glorification of the Hezbollah leader Nasrallah is inappropriate, and I've expressed those views previously, and I'll certainly get further information for you."
When Sabsabi was announced last week, he said that it was not possible for Middle Eastern artists to not be impacted by the conflict in the Middle East.
"We have tough skin but we do get bruised. How can you not be affected when you have family, when you have friends [in Lebanon]?" he said.
"As a human being, as a Lebanese [person], as an Arab, as a Muslim, as an Australian, what's been happening is inhumane and unacceptable.
"This violence, destruction cannot be sustained. We need a way forward for all of us to co-exist and to respect the rights of Palestinian people and their right of return to their lands and culture."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-14/khaled-sasabi-pulled-from-venice-biennale-creative-australia/104935876
posted by Satish Sharma at
05:22
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