Artists who represented Australia at Venice Biennale call for Khaled Sabsabi to be reinstated | Australian art

Living artists who have represented Australia at the Venice Biennale over the past five decades – and the estates of a number of now deceased artists who have done the same – have signed an open letter to the board and chief executive of Creative Australia to reinstate sacked artist Khaled Sabsabi and his curator Michael Dagostino.

Some of Australia’s most distinguished living artists, including Imants Tillers, Mike Parr, Susan Norrie, Fiona Hall, Judy Watson, Patricia Piccinini and Tracey Moffat have signed the petition, as has the estate of Howard Arkley who represented Australia in Venice more than a quarter of a century ago.

“As artists who have represented Australia at the Venice Biennale, we strongly protest the removal of Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino as the artistic team for the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026,” the open letter states.

“The Venice Biennale is a rare and critical platform for Australian artists. Being selected is an extraordinary honour, and to strip the chosen artistic team of this opportunity is unacceptable.

“Indeed it signals a fundamental disregard for the role of artists in our society – especially by the very institution meant to defend them.”

That institution, the Australian government’s principal arts investment and advisory body, Creative Australia, is scheduled to appear before a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday.

However, it will be up to the Greens and independents to interrogate Creative Australia’s chief executive Adrian Collette, over allegations the body came under political pressure to rescind the Venice contract.

It was a Coalition senator, Claire Chandler, who first raised objections to Sabsabi’s selection as Australia’s representative almost two weeks ago during question time, on the grounds the Lebanese-born Australian artist represented former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Osama bin Laden, and depictions of the 11 September terrorist attacks in earlier artwork.

The Labor senators Jenny McAllister and Tim Ayres will be expected to answer questions about who knew what and when, as both the arts minister, Tony Burke, and Labor’s special envoy for the arts, Susan Templeman, are in the House of Representatives.

Burke has admitted he called Collette immediately after question time, but has insisted he played no role in pressuring Creative Australia’s board, which met a few hours later, to disendorse Sabsabi and Dagostino.

“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,” Burke said last Monday.

Collette has not responded to repeated requests from the Guardian to comment but told an all staff meeting last Thursday that Sabsabi and Dagostino would not be reinstated, sources said. The Guardian understands Collette indicated he did not believe his role had become “untenable”.

One of the art works at the centre of the controversy, a 2007 video work called You, features images of the former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed last year.

Hezbollah was not listed as a terrorist group until 2021, although the Australian government had listed its External Security Organisation military wing as a terrorist organisation in 2003.

Late on Friday, Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art, which owns You, said Creative Australia’s backflip had damaged Australia’s international reputation and undercut the principle of freedom of expression, the Australian Financial Review reported.

Another question Collette is expected to be asked on Monday is why under the government’s new national cultural policy Burke has instituted music and literature boards, yet there remains no board to represent Australia’s visual arts.

There is only one visual arts representative on Creative Australia’s board – Lindy Lee – who resigned the day after the board met, posting on social media that her board’s vote to rescind Sabsabi’s contract had left her feeling “deeply conflicted”.

“I could not live the level of violation I felt against one of my core values – that the artist’s voice must never be silenced,” she said.

“We live in very fractured, broken times. There is a lot of hurt out there. More than ever the artist’s voice is needed.”