Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, which owns one of the works cited as a reason for the federal arts agency’s backflip on sending artist Khaled Sabsabi to the Venice Biennale, says the decision has damaged Australia’s international reputation and undercut the principle of freedom of expression.

The MCA’s comments on Friday backing Sabsabi make it the first major arts institution to criticise Creative Australia’s decision to dump the artist from the biennale, which has triggered turmoil with the arts community.