‘No artist' will want to represent Australia at Venice Biennale after Sabsabi dumped, former museum head says
The Australian Pavilion at the 61st Venice Biennale is likely to remain dark next year for the first time, the former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art says.
Elizabeth Ann Macgregor on Tuesday weighed into the fracas over Creative Australia's decision to rescind its Venice Biennale contract to Lebanese-born Australia artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino, just six days after announcing the pair would be Australia's representatives at the 2026 prestigious international art event.
'Did Creative Australia honestly think they could just ring up the next artist on the shortlist? Well, they've all already made it very clear that none of them will be accepting the offer,' Macgregor told Guardian Australia on Tuesday.
'No artists worth their soul will touch that pavilion now. They can't. It's totally tainted. And it's so tragic.'Creative Australia's executive director, Adrian Collette, told staff at an angry meeting on Monday that the public outcry would have been greater than the one he now finds himself embroiled in, if the Sabsabi exhibition had gone ahead.
The fallout occurred after earlier works by the artist came to light that drew controversy from some politicians and media outlets for containing depictions of deceased Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
One of those works, You, a 2007 video installation that includes images of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, was given to the MCA by Sabsabi in 2009, during Macgregor's tenure, and remains in the museum's collection today.
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Macgregor said questions now needed to be asked about the future tenure of Collette as head of the Australian government's arts funding, development and advisory body, and the position of advertising executive Robert Morgan as the organisation's chair.
Macgregor said arts minister Tony Burke had questions to answer. Burke confirmed on Monday he contacted Collette immediately after question time on Thursday, when Sabsabi's choice for the 2026 biennale was called into question by Liberal senator Claire Chandler.
'Normally I don't get involved in the decisions, but when something's due to be announced, I get sent up a brief with … what different issues that might be considered controversial,' Burke said.
'I rang Adrian to find out what had happened. At that point, he had already determined that they were going to have a board meeting that night.
'I was very clear. I made clear to Adrian Collette, who I have known for more than a decade, I said to him whatever you decide, I will support you and I will support Creative Australia.'
Other than issuing a written statement last Friday, the artist and the curator have not spoken out since.
Macgregor told the Guardian Australia's reputation on the international art scene had been damaged.
'I've had messages from around the world, people asking what on earth is going on in Australia?' she said.
'This not only reflects badly on arts leadership in this country, it reflects badly on our political system, with two major parties point scoring on the basis of an article sitting behind a firewall,' she said, referring to last week's The Australian column which accused Sabsabi of 'seemingly laud[ing] a terrorist leader in his past work'.
She said the MCA work in question, You, had been the subject of many 'incredibly interesting conversations' the museum had had with the public and school groups during her time as head of the institution, which in 2019 was named the most visited museum of contemporary art in the world.
'In no way was that work a glorification [of Nasrallah]. Art is complex, you have to read it within context. Many people have given different interpretations of it. And surely we have to allow space for that, even in this day of instant social media.'
Macgregor said You, and another Sabsabi work also singled out for criticism, called Thank You Very Much, featuring images of the 9/11 attacks and a clip of US president George Bush saying 'thank you very much', were created almost two decades ago, and in a very different context.
'Khaled is not an angry young man doing provocative work that's going to get everybody angry in the Venice pavilion, far from it,' she said.
'He's an experienced senior artist working with a very experienced curator who has managed many, many difficult projects. These are not people who are deliberately trying to provoke some sort of horrible backlash. That's just not what the proposal is about. On Creative Australia's own website it says the work will be about creating empathy from different positions, bringing people together, community engagement through art.'
Macgregor said she was disappointed in the 'lack of arts leadership' at an organisational level and at the 'deafening silence' from large arts institutions over the past week.
'Have they been silenced because their boards are worried about their funding and are telling them to remain silent?' she asked.
The horrific conflict in Gaza and the rise in antisemitic acts in Australia has created a tense community environment as the country heads into a federal election, Macgregor acknowledged. But that should not be a reason to disallow artists to engage with those events through their work.
'Should Creative Australia now issue an edict saying no one dealing with any subject of war can create work that is funded by the taxpayer? And are they going to go back through the social media accounts of any artist who gets a commission, to see what they've been doing or saying 15 or 20 years ago?
'This whole issue has set an extremely dangerous precedent.'
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