Greens Call For Urgent Inquiry Into Creative Australia
Image: peacefender/Instagram
Anna Kucera
The Greens have called for an urgent independent inquiry into the controversial decision from Creative Australia to revoke Australia’s selection to the Venice Biennale.
Creative Australia rescinded their decision for Lebanese-born artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Micheal Dagostino to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale just six days after the selection was announced, after the choice faced criticism at question time in parliament last week.
On Thursday, Liberal Senator Claire Chandler questioned the choice in parliament, citing Sabsabi’s previous work, which includes a 2006 video depicting the 9/11 attacks, and a 2007 work that features former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Greens spokesperson for the Arts, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, said on Monday that the affair was “an appalling capitulation that has plunged arts policy in Australia into crisis.”
“It has undermined the entire integrity and credibility of the newly formed Creative Australia,” she said. “Succumbing to political pressure from the Murdoch media and conservative politicians has brought the nation’s premium cultural institution into disrepute.
“Artistic expression must be free from political interference and intimidation. To allow this censorship of artistic thought and expression is to allow an attack on the very values of freedom and peace that are the lifeblood of our democracy.”
“To award the submission to two of Australia’s great creative minds, only to revoke it 6 days later after political interference sets a dangerous precedent, not just in the art world but for all of our public institutions.”
Decision thrown arts world into turmoil
Multiple board members of Creative Australia have resigned in the wake of the decision, with member Lindy Lee describing how conflicted and heartbroken the actions left her.
“Nobody except those involved can ever know how fraught and heartbreaking that meeting was. In no direction was there anywhere to breathe. I am bound by confidentiality, so I cannot speak on these things,” Lee wrote in a statement on Sunday.
“I came away deeply conflicted and realised that I had to resign. I could not live with the level of violation I felt against one of my core values – that the artist’s voice must never be silenced.”
Five of the other shortlisted artists for the Venice Biennale penned an open letter to the Board of Creative Australia on Friday.
“We believe that revoking support for the current Australian artist and curator representatives for the 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.”
