Artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino – whose invitation to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale was infamously rescinded earlier this month just six days after being announced – only received formal notification of their cancellation yesterday, it has emerged.
Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette AM and Board Chair Robert Morgan made the admission last night (25 February) at a Senate Estimates hearing, which began at 8.30pm AEDT.
The delay was caused by the need to seek legal advice, with formal notice of the cancelled contract sent to Sabsabi and Dagostino at 4.30pm on Tuesday 25 February.
Payment for the pair’s termination has yet to be finalised, but will be made with taxpayers’ money.
“We absolutely acknowledge we have financial obligations to the artist and the curator, so the taxpayer has to fund it. The taxpayer funds everything we do,” Collette told the Senate Estimates hearing.
It is unlikely Sabsabi will be replaced in time for the 2026 Venice Biennale, the world’s pre-eminent art fair, given the number of artists who have protested Sabsabi and Dagostino’s dismissal.
“There is a possibility that the [Australian] Pavilion will remain empty, but we will be doing everything we can, when we draw breath, to think about how we use what is a public pavilion to mount something … that is worthy in terms of its representation of Australia, but we have to draw breath and work out how we are going to approach this singular situation,” Collette said last night.
Creative Australia dropped Sabsabi and Dagostino after an emergency Board meeting on 12 February that was not attended by all Board members, with Larissa Behrendt unable to attend due to the meeting being called at short notice.
The Board’s “unanimous” decision to cancel the pair’s contract was announced in a media release on 13 February.
Artist Lindy Lee resigned from the Creative Australia Board the followinhg day, 13 February. She was swiftly followed by Mikala Tai, the head of Creative Australia’s visual arts department, and program manager Tahmina Maskinyar.
Simon Mordant, who has twice served twice as the Australian Commissioner at the Venice Biennale, also resigned from his position as an Ambassador and withdrew his significant donation to Australia’s Venice Biennale representation.
Read: Resignations and uproar follow Creative Australia’s Venice Biennale decision
The decision to cancel Sabsabi and Dagostino’s contract was made after questions were asked in Federal Parliament by Tasmanian Liberal Senator Claire Chandler, the Shadow Arts Minister, about Sabsabi’s 18-second video artwork, Thank You Very Much (2006).
The video, which features images of the 9/11 attacks on the US, is named after comments from US President George W Bush which also appear in the artwork.
Sabsabi’s body of work – including Thank You Very Much – was not considered by Creative Australia when selecting him as Australia’s 2026 Venice representative.
“We don’t do that. We judge the work in front of us and the potential to fulfil the brief that we are looking for,” Collette said.
The selection process – which seemingly lacks the rigour expected when selecting a candidate for a high-profile position – will now form part of a review that Creative Australia is about to commission.
Creative Australia Board Chair Robert Morgan, who also attended the Senate grilling, explained: “As a Board, we need to do a review on the process in relation to the selection of the Venice Biennale art team. And also, you know, how that whole process … could be improved and what lessons can be learned. And it is the intention of the Board to make changes according to those recommendations, so that we can ensure that the process is fit for purpose.”
Neither Collette nor Morgan will be resigning.
Collette said, “That’s really not the way I work. I’m sorry if this decision is misunderstood by the sector, but I don’t back away from this stuff. I work day in, day out for the welfare of this organisation and I will continue to do so. If it’s in someone else’s [interest] to say, ‘Well, we think you should move on,’ so be it, but it certainly won’t be something I do.”
This article was updated at 12.48pm 26 February 2025 to include the Instagram posts of Senator Claire Chandler in Parliamant and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young’s comments at the Senate hearing.
