Lebanese-Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino have been recommissioned by Creative Australia as the artistic team for the Australia Pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale.
The move represents a dramatic reversal of the commissioning body’s previous decision in February 2025 to drop Sabsabi and Dagostino over Sabsabi’s 2007 film You. The film, which features an address by Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of the Lebanese paramilitary and political organisation Hezbollah, led to an accusation in the Australian Senate of an endorsement of terrorism amid a climate of antisemitism in the country.
The board’s decision to cancel Sabsabi and Dagostino’s appointment provoked an outcry among Australia’s artistic community and others around the world. Several members of staff at Creative Australia resigned, while the other shortlisted artists and curators for the 2026 Australian Pavilion published an open letter stating their support for Sabsabi and Dagostino and calling for both to be reinstated. ‘It is a decision that amounts to nothing less than censorship,’ Amelia Winata argued in ArtReview.
‘We would not have reached this point without the unwavering support of the Australian and international creative community,’ Sabsabi and Dagostino said in a statement following the news of their reinstatement by Creative Australia. ‘We accept this invitation and welcome the opportunity to represent our country on this prestigious international stage.’
