Creative Australia announces review into cancelled Venice artist decision

The federal government’s peak arts body will undergo an independent review after it suddenly dumped an artist it had selected to represent the country at the world’s most significant art event.

Creative Australia has offered no details of the probe but said it would be an independent examination of its 2026 Venice Biennale selection process, in which it chose multimedia artist Khaled Sabsabi to represent the nation, announcing him on February 7 as the selected entrant, then sensationally dropping him last Thursday night.

The backflip followed questions that day by Liberal frontbencher Clare Chandler in the Senate about the artist’s 2006 video rendering of the New York 9/11 attacks called Thank You Very Much, and a 2007 work depicting now-dead Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

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

Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke then spoke to senior members of Creative Australia, before it held a board meeting at which the decision was made to dump Sabsabi.

The news comes as the panel of industry advisers to Creative Australia for the 2026 Venice appointment called for transparency into the decision.

Dunja Rmandic, Mariko Smith, Wassan Al-Khudhairi, Elaine Chia and Anthony Gardner said in a statement: “The panel is deeply concerned by the decision to rescind the appointment, as well as the impact that is having on the artistic team, and the people otherwise connected with the selection process.”

Khaled Sabsabi’s 2007 artwork.Credit:

The selection process for the prestigious appointment changed this year.

The panel statement read: “We urge Creative Australia and the Australia Council Board (together with the wider Australian and international artistic communities) to provide support to and stand with Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino at this difficult time. Any failure to do so would not reflect the expectation of integrity which is at the core of thriving artistic and democratic communities or demonstrate care for the people they engage.

“Some transparency from the board on the process and reasoning for its decision to rescind the selection will go some way to mitigate the confusion, disappointment and hurt experienced by the artistic team, by artists and arts professionals like us across Australia,” it continued.

In other developments, ambassador to the 2026 Australian presentation at the Venice Biennale, Simon Mordant AO, issued a clarification regarding his resignation.

“I withdrew my financial pledge because of poor process by the government’s arts body. I had no involvement in the selection nor the rescinding of Khaled Sabsabi’s commission,” he said.

“I want to be 100 per cent clear that I would never knowingly support an artist or art that glorifies terrorism, racism or antisemitism or went against my values. I think everybody has to be very careful about the insidious rise of racism and antisemitism which has become particularly prevalent in Australia,” he wrote.

Artist Khaled Sabsabi (right) with curator Michael Dagostino.Credit: Steven Siewert

Sabsabi is an acclaimed artist who migrated to Australia with his family from Lebanon during that country’s civil war. Together with curator Michael Dagostino, he had proposed a work for the biennale to foster inclusivity.

The artist appointed to represent this country at the biennale receives $100,000 and the curator $50,000.

Lawyer Josh Bornstein has told this masthead the decision to revoke Sabsabi’s invitation might trigger a wrongful dismissal claim. Under the Fair Work Act, an employee whose employment is terminated because of their political opinions can make a claim.

The legal argument to rescind Sabsabi’s appointment would be “imputed political opinion”, he says.

“They’ve assumed he’s a supporter of these political organisations and that may be argued to be ‘imputed political belief’. So if an employee is assumed to be a political supporter of One Nation and is sacked because of that assumption, that may be enough to sustain a claim.”

Discrimination on the basis of political belief or activity is also prohibited in some state laws, although the protections vary, Bornstein says.

In Victoria, an employee who is the subject of such discrimination would have a claim; in NSW, there is no such protection.

Research fellow at Western Sydney University’s Institute for Culture and Society Cecelia Cmielewski said there had been an outpouring of support for Sabsabi.

“The people who’ve seen the work [featuring Hassan Nasrallah] – myself included – it’s not deifying the leader at all. I interpreted it as laser beams of hate coming out the sides frankly, not a Christian idea of haloes, which seems to be what that senator implied,” she says.

“The decision to sack Sabsabi reinforces the problem we are facing in Australia of polarisation.”

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