Artist Khaled Sabsabi (left) and curator Michael Dagostino (picture Anna Kucera for Inventive Australia)
Australia has deserted its plans for its chosen 61st Venice Biennale illustration after abruptly dropping Lebanese-born artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino about one week after appointing the pair. Inventive Australia, the federal physique tasked with organizing the nation’s pavilion, introduced the unanimous determination right this moment, February 13.
“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,” Inventive Australia mentioned in an announcement, including that it’s reviewing its choice course of.
Sabsabi, whose household fled Lebanon in 1978 following the outbreak of civil warfare, regularly makes use of video installations and different immersive media works to deal with themes associated to human collectiveness, cultural id, and political ideology. His work is knowledgeable by his lived expertise of migrating from Tripoli to Sydney and infrequently grapples with Western views of Arab id.
A few of his work, nonetheless, got here below scrutiny in a report by The Australian, adopted by a dialogue in parliament earlier this week. Critics primarily centered on works just like the 2007 set up You, which manipulates footage of the just lately assassinated Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, and the 2006 work “Thank You Very Much,” which reappropriates footage of the 9/11 assaults and a press convention with then-President George W. Bush.
“We are extremely hurt and disappointed in Creative Australia board’s decision to rescind our appointment to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale,” Sabsabi and Dagostino instructed Hyperallergic in an announcement. “We intended to present a transformational work in Venice, an experience that would unite all audiences in an open and safe shared space. This reflects and builds on the work we have done for decades and will do for many more. Art should not be censored as artists reflect the times they live in.”
Based on the Guardian, Liberal senator Claire Chandler requested through the parliamentary assembly: “With such appalling antisemitism in our country, why is the Albanese government allowing the person who highlights a terrorist leader in his artwork to represent Australia on the international stage?”
Australia’s Museum Of Modern Artwork, which owns the video work, explains on its web site that Sabsabi’s use of Nasrallah’s picture is “purposefully ambiguous.”
“We believe in the vision of artists for an inclusive future that can bring us together to communicate and progress our shared humanity,” Sabsabi and Dagostino instructed Hyperallergic. “We also believe that, despite this decision, the Australian art world will not dim and or be silent.” The duo mentioned they’re nonetheless dedicated to presenting their work on a worldwide platform and can “seek community support to make this happen.”
