University ‘postpones’ show by artist dropped by Creative Australia

Monash University has indefinitely “postponed” an exhibition by Khaled Sabsabi just weeks after the artist was stripped of his invitation to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale.

Two months before its scheduled opening, the university announced Flat Earth – featuring Sabsabi and writer and anthropologist Elisa Taber – to be held at Monash’s Museum of Art (MUMA) in Caulfield would not be staged.

Artist Khaled Sabsabi at the Campbelltown Art Centre in 2021.Credit: James Brickwood

While the university says the show has been postponed, no new dates have been set. Comment was sought from Sabsabi.

Sabsabi’s gallerist, Josh Milani, said that decision, coming on top of the Venice developments, was devastating and potentially fatal to the artist’s livelihood.

“I have previously warned Creative Australia that their decision to repudiate Khaled Sabsabi’s Venice Biennale commission had already set in motion the dismantling of his career and livelihood,” he said.

“This cancellation is a direct result of Creative Australia’s abandonment of him as an artist and a human being. They have allowed the mischaracterisation of him as a terrorist sympathiser to go unchecked.

“It should be clear, he is against terrorism and violence in all its forms and he is against racism in all its forms, including antisemitism.

“When a bad, rushed decision based on incorrect information leads to a gross injustice, the courageous and ethical thing to do is to reverse the decision.”

The Venice Biennale is the world’s biggest and most prestigious art show. Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino had been appointed Australia’s 2026 representatives.

That invitation was rescinded days later, hours after the Coalition raised questions in federal parliament about two historical works by the Lebanese-born Sabsabi, including a 2006 video artwork, Thank You Very Much, featuring images of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Curator Dagostino and Sabsabi are believed to have been paid by Creative Australia 90 per cent of the artist’s fee of $100,000 and the curator’s fee of $50,000, in line with the contract terms the pair signed on February 6. However, the payment has been quarantined as they continue to fight for reinstatement.

Curator Michael Dagostino (left) and artist Khaled Sabsabi were dropped as Australia’s entry to Venice in 2026.Credit: Steven Siewert

Flat Earth was curated by Sydney-based art and publishing collective Stolon Press with MUMA director Dr Rebecca Coates and curator Stephanie Berlangieri as part of a series celebrating the gallery’s 50th anniversary. It had been slated to run from May 8 until July 5.

In response to questions from this masthead about the decision, a Monash University spokesperson said: “Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) will postpone the Flat Earth exhibition at the Caulfield campus.

“Through consultation with our communities we have identified there is a need for the museum to deepen its collaboration and engagement on this exhibition. Postponing the event will allow this important work to be undertaken.”

Writer Tom Melick and artist Simryn Gill established Stolon Press in 2019.

In the show, Lebanese-born, Sydney-based Sabsabi was to present “large, coffee-infused calligraphic paintings rooted in tasawwuf (Sufism), alongside abstracted silhouette works that employ numerology and repetition to explore spirituality and our shared human condition”.

Buenos Aires, Asunción and Montreal-based Taber was to show microfilms alongside text “drawn from her ethnographic practice to think about translation, memory, and the ways language shapes and unsettles belonging”.

Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, who headed Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art for 22 years, described the decision as appalling. “Creative Australia not only failed to protect an artist from untrue allegations, it has failed to consider the consequences. The defence of ‘community consultation’ is simply untenable. Especially from a university,” she wrote on Instagram. “Deeply embarrassing for Australian arts and devastating for the artist.”

Milani said there was still time for the Creative Australia board to reinstate Sabsabi for Venice.

“If it does not, his career will not recover,” he said. “In light of these most recent developments, I have written to Minister [Tony] Burke to request he take action to protect the interests of the sector. It’s not a question of political interference but one of good governance. Acting in the interests of the sector is his duty as arts minister.”

Burke said it was his long-standing position that decisions about artistic merit should not be made by any minister.

“Both the decision to appoint and then to terminate the contract, were decisions made at arm’s length by Creative Australia,” Burke said.

“I never intend to go back to the days of ministerial interference.

“I have previously stated publicly my personal view that Khaled Sabsabi is an extraordinary and gifted artist, and I continue to hold that view.”

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