Australia’s s principal arts investment and advisory body, Creative Australia, has been rocked by two senior resignations after the board withdrew Lebanese-born Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi from the 61st Venice Biennale.
Mikala Tai, who has led Creative Australia’s visual arts department for more than four years, confirmed to the Guardian late on Friday she had tendered her resignation to Creative Australia’s chief executive Adrian Collette “in support of the artist” and his curator, Michael Dagostino.
She was followed by Tahmina Maskinyar, program manager, who criticised the lack of “due diligence” around the decision which she said would set an “uncharted precedent” for future funding allocation.
“I am deeply disheartened that at no point was the artist’s voice taken into consideration throughout the board’s decision-making process,” she said.
Also on Friday, one of Australia’s leading philanthropists and a former Venice Biennale commissioner, investment banker Simon Mordant, resigned from his position as an international ambassador for the 2026 event.
Mordant confirmed to the Guardian from Italy he had resigned and pulled his “significant” funding pledge from the project.
“I support Khaled Sabsabi,” he said.
Repeating an earlier post on Instagram, Mordant suggested the Australian pavilion should remain empty in solidarity with the artist.
“It is a very dark day for Australia and the arts,” he said.
The Guardian understands a number of further resignations may be in the pipeline. On Friday morning, a small number of Creative Australia staff in the Sydney office walked out in protest.
The award-winning artist and Dagostino were announced last week as the successful team for the 2026 Biennale on the advice of a panel of independent industry advisers.
But after a late-night board meeting on Thursday, Creative Australia took the unprecedented step to dump the team after criticism of Sabsabi’s art by The Australian newspaper and the shadow arts minister, Claire Chandler.
In a statement they said: “The board of Creative Australia has made the unanimous decision not to proceed with the artistic team chosen for the Venice Biennale 2026. Creative Australia is an advocate for freedom of artistic expression and is not an adjudicator on the interpretation of art.
“However, the board believes a prolonged and divisive debate about the 2026 selection outcome poses an unacceptable risk to public support for Australia’s artistic community and could undermine our goal of bringing Australians together through art and creativity.”
On Friday the arts minister, Tony Burke, said: “By law I don’t have the power to direct Creative Australia – and did not.”
“They have made their decisions and they’ve put their reasons out there.
“I’ve always been supportive of Creative Australia.”
Staff involved in the 2026 Venice Biennale organisation were only told of the board decision at the same time Creative Australia made a public announcement, late on Thursday.
On Friday, Australia’s peak advocacy body for contemporary Australian artists condemned Creative Australia’s decision.
The executive director of the National Association for the Visual Arts (Nava), Penelope Benton, called it “deeply troubling”.
At the core of the controversy is Sabsabi’s 2007 video installation titled You, which includes images of former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The artist donated the work to Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in 2009.
Benton said the work exemplified Sabsabi’s ability to contextualise contested histories and challenge dominant narratives.
The gallery that has represented Sabsabi for more than a decade, Brisbane’s Milani Gallery, called for the artist to be reinstated as Australia’s representative in Venice in 2026.
The Western Sydney Arts Alliance also called for the artist’s immediate reinstatement, a formal apology and for Creative Australia to provide full transparency around the decision-making process.
Guardian Australia contacted several members of the board for comment.
Article by:Source: Kelly Burke
