Monash University in Melbourne has an upcoming exhibition “postponed for an indefinite period of time” with the work of Lebanese artist Khaled Sabsabi a month after Australia withdrew his appointment from Venice Biennale in 2026.
Sabsabi made the headlines at the beginning of February when the Federal Arts Body Creative Australia chose him and curator Michael Dagostino to represent the Australian pavilion on the 61st edition of the prestigious international event. But less than a week after their selection, Creative Australia dropped the few controversial after the media and the parliament research of some of Sabsabi’s works from more than 15 years ago.
The decision to leave Sabsabi was immediately met criticism and calls for his recovery of members of the Australian art community – including the winners of Biennale Golden Lion last year, Archie Moore and Ellie Buttrosis, and the On the Shortlistic artistic teams for Pavilion 2026 – and a series of senior dismissal in Creative Australia deposited.
Now Monash University has canceled the upcoming exhibition and publication project Stolon Press: flat earthwho was planned for works by Sabsabi, the Guardian Australia reported. Initially as a result of Open in the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) on 8 May and up to and including 5 July, the show investigates the relationship between curatorial and editorial practices and was in the making for 18 months. In addition to pieces by Sabsabi, the project contained contributions from its old employees Stolon Press, a publication desk, and Elisa Taber, a Paraguayan-Canadian writer and anthropologist.
The artist has contributed large calligraphic paintings based on Tasawwuf (Sufism) concepts and silhouette works based on numerology and repetition, according to details of the show on Mumas website. These pieces had to be presented in addition to microfilms and text from Taber’s ethnographic examination, mounted together with a long form Essay on a series of panels from Stolon Press.
“Stolon Press did not agree to postpone the exhibition Flat soil‘The founders of the collective, Tom Melick and Simryn Gill told Hyperallergic In a statement, adding that they remain at the show.
“Our goal is to work to ensure that the exhibition is progressing,” they said.
Muma confirmed that the planning change was a decision of Monash University and refused HyperallergicThe request for further comment. Sabsabi and Monash University have not yet responded to questions.
Sabsabi’s gallerist Josh Milani said in a statement of 25 March shared with Hyperallergic That he had previously warned Australia that they had left the artist ‘all the dismantling of his career and resources of existence’.
“Today we learned that Monash University ‘for an indefinite period’ without explanation (AKA ‘canceled’) has canceled a show in which he would exhibit in June,” Milani said in the explanation and claimed that the planning change is “a direct consequence of leaving him as an artist and a person.”
‘[Creative Australia has] Allowed him to be the wrong character of him as a terrorist sympathizer to become uncontrolled, “said Milani, referring to some of Sabsabi’s works who are rejected Pavilion appointment before re -rated video of the 9/11 attacks and a press conference with the then President George W. Bush. With reference to a rise of “Appalling anti -Semitism” in Australia, Senator Claire Chandler Sabsabi of the Sabsabi Liberal Party in a parliamentary meeting of “height accused[ing] A terrorist leader in his artwork. ‘
Bet that Sabsabi opposes terrorism and violence in all its forms, including racism and anti -Semitism, Milani at Creative Australia urged his decision to drop the artist’s Biennial Agreement to save his career. The gallerist said that he also wrote to the Australian Minister of the Interior of Australia Tony Burke to take action.
“It’s not a matter of political interference, but one of good governance,” said Milani.
Earlier this month, Creative Australia announced That the Australia Council Board, which supervises the federal art organization, advisory board Blackhall and Pearl had appointed to revise the “administrative and decision-making process” for selecting the Biennale representation of the country. In the coming months, the assessment was carried out to develop recommendations for the board to “ensure that robust policy, processes and systems are present for future selection processes.”
