Creative Australia’s shock decision to drop its own selection to one of the world’s most prestigious cultural events, the Venice Biennale, has been met with severe backlash including a spate of resignations.

Artists and cultural leaders have strongly criticised Creative Australia, the federal government’s arts funding and advisory body, for rescinding its 2026 Biennale invitation to Lebanese Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino.

The announcement, made on Thursday, February 13, came less than a week after Creative Australia announced the pair had been selected. Larissa Behrendt was the only board member who was not present for the decision.

In response, Mikala Tai, the head of the organisation’s visual arts department, and program manager Tahmina Maskinyar have both resigned. 

Lindy Lee, a Creative Australia board member and celebrated artist, has resigned from her board position.

Simon Mordant, twice the Australian commissioner at the Venice Biennale, has also resigned as an international ambassador and major donor to next year’s event.

He said he was “appalled” by Sabsabi being dropped.

“When I heard what was happening yesterday, I immediately resigned my role and cancelled my financial support,” he told ABC Arts.

“Venice is Australia’s most important commission in the art world … [and] there was significant media coverage of the announcement, both locally and internationally.

“There was a question asked in parliament [on Thursday] and that subsequently resulted in an unprecedented move by Creative Australia to rescind the contract. 

“I’m not aware that that has ever happened in any country in the world. It certainly has never happened in Australia.

Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson for the Arts, is calling for a full independent inquiry into the crisis, including “how this decision was made, who was involved and how much it has cost the Australian taxpayer”.

“It’s an appalling capitulation that has put arts policy in Australia into crisis,” she told the ABC.

“It has undermined the entire integrity and credibility of the newly formed Creative Australia.

“Artistic expression must be free from political interference and intimidation.”

Questions around artistic freedom

The question in parliament related to work of Sabsabi’s from nearly 20 years ago, including one featuring assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and another depicting the September 11 attacks.

In Question Time on Thursday, Senator Claire Chandler, shadow minister for science and the arts, asked Foreign Minister Penny Wong: “Why is the Albanese government allowing a person who highlights a terrorist leader in his artwork to represent Australia on the international stage at the Venice Biennale?”

Senator Wong replied that she was not aware of the details of Sabsabi’s appointment and past artwork until then.

“I agree with you that any glorification of the Hezbollah leader Nasrallah is inappropriate,” she said.

Mordant considers criticism of these works irrelevant to his 2026 Biennale proposal.

“Venice is a place where issues of today are debated and discussed,” he said.

“Khaled’s [Biennale] project was in total relevance to issues of today.”

National Association for the Visual Arts executive director Penelope Benton said in a statement Creative Australia’s decision was the result of “political and media pressure” and “an outrageous overreach” on the part of the government.

She called it a “devastating and terrifying moment for artistic freedom in Australia”.

“This is not just about one artist or one exhibition; it is about whether Australia upholds the right of artists to critically engage with history, politics, and the urgent issues of our time,” Benton said.

In a statement to the ABC, Arts Minister Tony Burke said he was not involved in Creative Australia’s decision, but: “I was shocked to see [on Thursday] some of the works which are online.”

“By law I don’t have the power to direct Creative Australia and did not,” he said.

‘Hugely embarrassing moment’

Sasha Grishin, art critic and emeritus professor of art history at Australian National University, said Sabsabi’s works had been mis-characterised in parliament, including the works showing the September 11 attacks, titled Thank You Very Much.

“It’s only wilful ignorance that could possibly interpret them as a glorification of terrorism,” he said.

“The phrase ‘thank you very much’ in the 9/11 piece is a quotation from George W Bush, the US president, during the attacks, saying the phrase during a press conference, and the clip of the president saying this is included in Sabsabi’s video.

“Are any of those pieces promoting terrorism or defending terrorism? No, not remotely.”

He believes the decision to drop Sabsabi and Dagostino is “a hugely embarrassing moment for Australian art”.

“The board of Creative Australia has let down the Australian arts community like never before,” he said.

International ramifications

Cherine Fahd, an artist and associate professor of visual communication at the University of Technology Sydney, condemned Creative Australia’s decision as “grotesque”.

She believes Sabsabi’s work being debated in parliament is an example of “the Labor government and the Liberal [Party] us[ing] Arabs, Middle Eastern people born and bred in this country, or who have come here as migrants, as children, as some kind of weird toy scapegoat to play politics with”.

Fahd, who is Lebanese Australian, said she built her artistic career with support from the Australia Council for the Arts (now Creative Australia) and its “robust, peer-reviewed process”.

“That’s what we look to at Creative Australia,” she said.

Mordant believes there will be significant international repercussions from the Creative Australia decision.

“This issue is being discussed very broadly outside of Australia,” he said.

“I’ve had many calls from artists and curators around the world expressing a great deal of dismay. This is not a little isolated issue that’s going to wash away in Australia.

Grishin expects further industry upheaval to follow.

“Despite the outstanding calibre of some of the [Creative Australia] board members, I cannot see it as viable for them to continue on the board of Australia’s most significant federal arts funding organisation,” he said.

He also argued that the judging panel were either “incompetent in endorsing Khaled Sabsabi and his very credentialed curator Michael Dagostino as Australia’s entry at the [Biennale], or they’re incompetent now in withdrawing this nomination less than a week later”.

“So this is really a blow for the reputation of Australian art.”

The ABC approached Creative Australia and Senator Chandler for comment.