Creative Australia has reinstated artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino as Australia’s artistic team for the 2026 Venice Biennale, following an independent external review of the decision.
The pair had been dumped from the prestigious art exhibition earlier this year after Creative Australia’s board took the unprecedented decision to revoke their appointment.
“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 team said in a statement.
“We accept this invitation and welcome the opportunity to represent our country on this prestigious international stage.”
Just days after their selection was made public in February and following negative media and political commentary about two of Sabsabi’s historical artworks dating back nearly 20 years, Creative Australia’s board rescinded their contract, saying it wanted to avoid a “divisive debate”.The artistic duo said the decision has renewed their confidence in Creative Australia and “in the integrity of its selection process”.
“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 said.
“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.”
Creative Australia’s board’s decision to dump them garnered widespread condemnation and criticism within the artistic world, with hundreds signing petitions calling for their reinstatement.
The review, conducted by Blackhall & Pearl, examined how the board exercised its judgement in accordance with its obligations under both the Creative Australia Act and the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act.
The review found that although the board had not breached any part of the act, the responsibilities of the federal government’s principal funding body stretched beyond the artistic community.
“There was no single or predominant failure of process, governance or decision making that resulted, ultimately, in the decision to rescind the selection of [Sabsabi and Dagostino],” the final report concluded.
“There were, however, a series of missteps, assumptions and missedopportunities that meant neither the leadership of Creative Australia, nor the Board, were well placed to respond to, and manage in a considered way, any criticism or controversy that might emerge in relation to the selection decision.
“While much the same (previously successful) process was followed,inadequate briefing to the Board led to limited Board understanding andoversight of the systems and processes used in the selection process.”
The inquiry concluded that there was no one at Creative Australia who was adequately prepared for a “potentially divisive controversy” around the appointment, but that failure was not the fault of any one person or group of individuals.
However, the lack of preparedness had led to a series of errors that had been exacerbated by a lack of clarity around Creative Australia employees’ roles and accountabilities, and by “unresolved tensions within Creative Australia on the organisation’s roles and stakeholders and how best to balance these if they are in competition”.
“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.”
The report said Creative Australia had “a considerable task” to rebuild trust with at least some parts of the creative community and with some of its own employees.
Both Creative Australia’s chief executive Adrian Collette and the board’s chair, Robert Morgan told a Senate inquiry earlier this year they had no intention to resign over the controversy. In May Morganannouncedhe would retire.