Biennale of Sydney facing uncertain future after severing ties with Transfield

The Biennale of Sydney has announced it will sever ties with its founding partner Transfield, caving in to pressure from artists angered by the company's links to Australia's offshore detention centres.

The board of the Biennale of Sydney also announced on Friday that Luca Belgiorno-Nettis had resigned as chairman, less than two weeks before the event is scheduled to begin.

Luca Belgiorno-Nettis has resigned as Biennale of Sydney chairman.Credit: James Brickwood

Mr Belgiorno-Nettis's resignation after 14 years and the severing of ties with Transfield represents a huge win for artists and refugee advocates and an embarrassing backdown for the Biennale board, which claimed the Biennale could not exist without Transfield and pledged its loyalty to the Belgiorno-Nettis family two weeks ago.

"The Biennale's ability to effectively contribute to the cessation of bipartisan government policy is far from black and white. The only certainty is that without our founding partner, the Biennale will no longer exist," the board said on February 21.

But in its statement issued on Friday, the Biennale board said: ''We have listened to the artists who are the heart of the Biennale and have decided to end our partnership with Transfield effective immediately.''

The financial ramifications of severing links with Transfield are not yet clear.

Nine Australian and international artists, including Olafur Olafsson, had pulled out from the Biennale in protest at the event's sponsorship deal with Transfield Holdings. The company has a stake in Transfield Services, which was granted a 20-month contract last week to operate a detention centre on Manus Island.

Olafsson said he and his artistic partner, Libia Castro, would now reconsider their decision to withdraw from the Biennale.

''Obviously this seems to be a positive development but we need to talk together to see what our next response will be,'' he said.

Mr Belgiorno-Nettis' departure from the Biennale board is a significant blow to the family whose ties to the Biennale run deep.

In a statement, Mr Belgiorno-Nettis said he had resigned to offer "some blue sky" for the Biennale.

He also said it could be argued "that last year's popular election vindicates this detention policy as supported by the majority of Australians".

"The situation has now reached a crescendo," he said.

"Out of the 92 artists, 10 artists have withdrawn to date. There would appear to be little room for sensible dialogue, let alone deliberation.

"Biennale staff have been verbally abused with taunts of 'blood on your hands'. I have been personally vilified with insults, which I regard as naïve and offensive. This situation is entirely unfair - especially when directed towards our dedicated Biennale team who give so much of themselves.

"With many of the participating artists now torn between loyalty to our creative director and wanting to make a stand against this government policy, the core spirit of the festival is under a dark cloud."

Mr Belgiorno-Nettis' father and the founder of Transfield, Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, was the driving force behind the creation of the Biennale of Sydney in the early 1970s.

''I wear two hats: one as chair of the Biennale of Sydney and the other as a director of Transfield Holdings; both organisations conceived by my father and nurtured by my family over many decades, Mr Belgiorno-Nettis said.

The Belgiorno-Nettis' are important patrons of the arts in Sydney; Luca's brother Guido Belgiorno-Nettis is chairman of trustees at the Art Gallery of NSW, which is a principal venue for the Biennale.

Deputy chairman Andrew Cameron will lead the Biennale until a new chairman is appointed after the end of the event in June.