DDCA response to Creative Australia’s Venice Biennale decision

The Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Creative Arts (DDCA), Australia’s peak body for tertiary creative arts education and research, urges Creative Australia to reconsider its decision to rescind the presentation of Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino’s work in the 2026 Venice Biennale Australian pavilion. This decision to override a rigorous and internationally peer-reviewed process due to perceived concerns relating to Sabsabi’s past work, is both extraordinary and without justification. The role of the artist as both critic and conscience of society is sacrosanct in tertiary education and in Australian culture more broadly. Both the selected artist and curator have highly credentialed track records in tackling the leading issues of our times, posing acute questions that challenge uncritical partisan thinking. To claim, as the chair of the Australian Council does, that Sabsabi and Dagostino’s work is divisive and threatens the wellbeing and status of the Australian art community is both paternalistic and specious. Contemporary art must tackle the more difficult topics we as a society are challenged by – Sabsabi and Dagostino are especially well placed to do this. 

The decision made by Creative Australia to capitulate to uninformed commentary in the popular press and in certain political fora significantly increases a sense of fragility for the creative arts in this country, and interferes in transparent and credible decision-making processes established to assure quality. Importantly, it also demonstrates a lack of courageous leadership much needed in our contemporary public discourse. The broader messaging and flow-on impacts of this directive not only hinder the necessary national engagement in critical socio-cultural discourse via individual artistic agency and expression, but also carry dire implications for the current direction and role of Australian contemporary practice within the international context.

Signed, 
DDCA Board Members
The Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Creative Arts