Resignations follow dumping of Australian artist from Venice Biennale

Leading Australian arts figures Simon Mordant and Lindy Lee have resigned from senior posts after Creative Australia’s shock decision to dump its appointed artistic team from the 2026 Venice Biennale.

The board of Creative Australia withdrew its invitation to western Sydney multimedia artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino on Thursday night.

The board’s backflip came the same day as Liberal frontbencher Clare Chandler used Senate question time to ask Labor about the artist’s 2006 video rendering of the New York 9/11 attacks called Thank You Very Much.

Mordant has resigned as a biennale ambassador and withdrawn his financial pledge to support Australia’s participation while Lee has resigned from the Creative Australia board.

A source within Creative Australia not authorised to officially comment confirmed Friday night the organisation had received a letter from Lee expressing her intention to resign. At the same time it reiterated her support for the original board’s decision.

Artist Khaled Sabsabi (right) and curator Michael Dagostino have been dropped as Australia’s entrant to the 2026 Venice Biennale to avoid “divisive debate”. Credit: Steven Siewert

Mordant, twice Australian Commissioner at the Venice Biennale and who led the rebuilding of the Australian Pavilion in 2015, said the withdrawal of the duo’s invitation to exhibit “was a very dark day for Australia and for the Australian arts community”.

He wrote to the agency’s board on Thursday night cancelling his “significant” contribution towards the prestigious global arts event in protest.

“I am not aware of another country withdrawing its invitation to its selected candidate, ever,” he said.

“I don’t think this has happened to any other artist in Venice. The contract was negotiated and announced five days ago and five days later the board changed their minds. I can only assume it was the result of political guidance or direction.”

Mikala Tai, head of visual arts at Creative Australia and responsible for the project’s direction, also tendered her resignation late Friday in support of Sabsabi and Dagostino. Program manager, Tahmina Maskinyar, joined her.

Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke spoke to senior figures at Creative Australia on Thursday, according to sources familiar with the matter who were unable to speak publicly.

Creative Australia then held a board meeting at which the decision was made.

Burke said in a statement on Thursday that he was “not involved in the decision”, but added that he was “shocked to see some of the works which are online this afternoon”.

In an additional statement on Friday afternoon, Burke said he was a big supporter of Creative Australia.

“By law I don’t have the power to direct Creative Australia and did not. They have made their decisions and they’ve put their reasons out there,” he said.

Burke represents a western Sydney seat with a large Muslim population.

Sabsabi was the first Lebanese artist from western Sydney selected for the biennale. He migrated to Australia with his family from Lebanon during the civil war, and has taken strong political positions on the Gaza conflict.

The duo said they were “extremely hurt” to be censored and were seeking community support to showcase the planned work on another global platform.

“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,” the statement said.

“Art should not be censored, as artists reflect the times they live in. We believe in the vision of artists for an inclusive future that can bring us together to communicate and progress our shared humanity. We also believe that, despite this decision, the Australian art world will not dim and/or be silent.”

Executive director of the National Association of Visual Arts Penelope Benton said: “This is a devastating and terrifying moment for artistic freedom in Australia. This is not just about one artist or one exhibition; it is about whether Australia upholds the right of artists to critically engage with history, politics and the urgent issues of our time.”

In its statement the board said: “The Board of Creative Australia has made the unanimous decision not to proceed with the artistic team chosen for the Venice Biennale 2026.”

The board’s statement said it was an advocate for freedom of artistic expression but a prolonged and divisive debate about the 2026 selection outcome posed “an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia’s artistic community and could undermine our goal of bringing Australians together through art and creativity”.

In an open letter to the board, the five other shortlisted entrants called for Creative Australia to reinstate Sabsabi, whose proposal was “selected by industry-led experts through a rigorous and professionally independent open-call process”.

“We believe that revoking support for the current Australian artist and curator representatives for Venice Biennale 2026 is antithetical to the goodwill and hard-fought artistic independence, freedom of speech and moral courage that is at the core of arts in Australia, which plays a crucial role in our thriving and democratic nation,” they added.

Elizabeth MacGregor, who headed the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney for 22 years, said she was “shocked and disgusted” by the decision and that Creative Australia should have defended the artist against pressure to remove him. “I hope the Venice Biennale supporters withdraw their support,” she wrote on Instagram.

Mordant said works made by Sabsabi early in his career were irrelevant to his current project and Venice was “all about looking at the issues of today”.

In Sabsabi’s video installation You (2007), former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recites the words: “Oh most honourable, pure and generous people, may God’s peace, mercy and blessings be upon you ...” His presence is repeated over two channels across a screen that gradually splinters into a mosaic of images.Credit:

Omar Sakr, poet and candidate for the Greens Party in Blaxland, NSW, also spoke out against the decision on Instagram, saying: “Khaled is an internationally renowned artist for a reason and this is a cowardly decision spurred by the artistically illiterate.

“Creative Australia is meant to be ‘arm’s length’ from the minister and the government and this decision showcases that they are not. The board has shamed themselves forever.”

He went on to say: “It is increasingly clear that to be Arab and Muslim is to be second-class in Australia.”

One of Sabsabi’s works can be seen at Sydney’s Barangaroo Station: seven sculptures of trees made from copper and steel, which are mounted on the eastern wall. Called In Time We Shall, it is a testament to the original people of the Sydney Basin and the role of trees in nurturing life, culture and connection.

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