Australia has abandoned its plans for its selected 61st Venice Biennale representation after abruptly dropping Lebanese-born artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino about one week after appointing the pair. Creative Australia, the federal body tasked with organizing the country’s pavilion, announced the unanimous decision today, 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,” Creative Australia said in a statement, adding that it’s reviewing its selection process.
Sabsabi, whose family fled Lebanon in 1978 following the outbreak of civil war, frequently uses video installations and other immersive media works to address themes related to human collectiveness, cultural identity, and political ideology. His work is informed by his lived experience of migrating from Tripoli to Sydney and often grapples with Western views of Arab identity.
Some of his work, however, came under scrutiny in a report by The Australian, followed by a discussion in parliament earlier this week. Critics mainly focused on works like the 2007 installation You, which manipulates footage of the recently assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and the 2006 work “Thank You Very Much,” which reappropriates footage of the 9/11 attacks and a press conference 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 told Hyperallergic in a statement. “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.”
According to the Guardian, Liberal senator Claire Chandler asked during the parliamentary meeting: “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 Contemporary Art, which owns the video work, explains on its website that Sabsabi’s use of Nasrallah’s image is “purposefully ambiguous.”
“It plays on western fears of cultural difference […] and suggests the all-pervasiveness of the public news media, and its ability to deify or vilify through the intensive repetition of imagery on our television screens,” read the museum’s text.
“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 told Hyperallergic. “We also believe that, despite this decision, the Australian art world will not dim and or be silent.” The duo said they’re still committed to presenting their work on a global platform and will “seek community support to make this happen.”
