Khaled Sabsabi Reinstated as Venice Biennale Representative

Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino have been reinstated as Australia’s representatives for the 2026 Venice Biennale following an independent external review.

“Today, we were officially informed by Creative Australia that we have been recommissioned as the Artistic Team for the Australia Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale,” the pair said in a statement on Wednesday.

“We accept this invitation and welcome the opportunity to represent our country on this prestigious international stage.”

Creative Australia controversially dumped Sabsabi and Dagostino from the exhibition just six days after their selection was announced publicly. The organisation cited fears of a “prolonged and divisive debate” as reasoning for the move.

“It offers a sense of resolution and allows us to move forward with optimism and hope after a period of significant personal and collective hardship,” their statement continued.

“We acknowledge that this challenging journey has impacted not only us, but also our families, friends, the staff at Creative Australia, and many others across the broader artistic community here and abroad.

“We would not have reached this point without the unwavering support of the Australian and international creative community.”

The decision from Creative Australia was met with extensive criticism from both inside and outside the art world, leading to the resignation of several board members.

Greens spokesperson for the Arts, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, said the affair was “an appalling capitulation that has plunged arts policy in Australia into crisis,” and advocated for a review.

Board committed to rebuilding trust

The external review, conducted by board advisory firm Blackhall & Pearl, found “no single or predominant failure of process, governance or decision making that resulted, ultimately, in the decision to rescind the selection of the artistic team”, but instead “a series of missteps, assumptions and missed opportunities”.

Creative Australia has accepted every recommendation made by the review.

“There is an unfortunate irony in that many of the flaws in the Biennale selection process stemmed from a strong desire within Creative Australia to keep decisions on artistic merit free from non-artistic considerations,” the report concluded.

“This has been seen as critical to protect freedom of expression and the creative community. In fact, the lack of appropriate preparedness for such a major decision as Australian representation at the Venice Biennale has led to a considerably worse outcome for all involved than if prudent, carefully considered risk assessment and crisis management had been put in place.”

Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette has apologised for the impact of the board’s decision on Sabsabi, Dagostino and the wider arts community, and said the organisation was committed to “rebuilding trust” in their processes.

“We are also sorry that this has caused concern and uncertainty for many in the broader arts community and we are committed to rebuilding trust in our processes for the commissioning of the Venice Biennale,” he wrote.