Monash University in Melbourne has “indefinitely postponed” an upcoming exhibition featuring the work of Lebanese-born artist Khaled Sabsabi one month after Australia rescinded his 2026 Venice Biennale appointment.
Sabsabi made headlines in early February when the federal arts body Creative Australia chose him and curator Michael Dagostino to represent the Australian pavilion at the 61st edition of the prestigious international event. But less than a week after their selection, Creative Australia controversially dropped the pair following media and parliament scrutiny of some of Sabsabi’s works from more than 15 years ago.
The decision to abandon Sabsabi was immediately met with criticism and calls for his reinstatement from Australian arts community members — including last year’s Venice Biennale Golden Lion Winners, Archie Moore and Ellie Buttrose, and the shortlisted artistic teams for 2026 pavilion — and set off a string of senior resignations within Creative Australia.
Now, Monash University has called off the upcoming exhibition and publication project Stolon Press: Flat Earth, which was slated to include works by Sabsabi, the Guardian Australia reported. Initially due to open at the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) on May 8 and run through July 5, the show examines the relationship between curatorial and editorial practices and had been in the works for 18 months. In addition to pieces by Sabsabi, the project featured contributions by his longtime collaborators Stolon Press, a Sydney-based publishing collective, and Elisa Taber, a Paraguayan-Canadian writer and anthropologist.
The artist contributed large calligraphic paintings based on tasawwuf (Sufism) concepts and silhouette works grounded in numerology and repetition, according to details of the show on MUMA’s website. These pieces were to be presented alongside microfilms and text from Taber’s ethnographic research along with a longform essay mounted across a series of panels by Stolon Press.
“Stolon Press did not agree to postpone the exhibition Flat Earth,” the collective’s founders, Tom Melick and Simryn Gill, told Hyperallergic in a statement, adding that they continue to stand by the show.
“Our aim is to work to ensure that the exhibition proceeds,” they said.
MUMA confirmed that the scheduling change was a Monash University decision and declined Hyperallergic’s request for further comment. Sabsabi and Monash University have not yet responded to inquiries.
Sabsabi’s gallerist Josh Milani said in a March 25 statement shared with Hyperallergic that he had previously warned Creative Australia that their abandonment of the artist “had already set in motion the dismantling of his career and livelihood.”
“Today we learned that Monash University has ‘indefinitely postponed’ without explanation (aka ‘cancelled’) a show in which he was to exhibit this June,” Milani said in the statement, claiming that the scheduling change “is a direct result of Creative Australia’s abandonment of him as an artist and a human being.”
“[Creative Australia has] allowed the mischaracterisation of him as a terrorist sympathiser to go unchecked,” Milani said, referencing the scrutiny of some of Sabsabi’s works that preceded his dropped pavilion appointment. Critics have targeted the artist’s 2007 installation “You,” featuring manipulated footage of the recently assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and his 2006 work “Thank You Very Much,” which reappropriated video of the 9/11 attacks and a press conference with then-President George W. Bush. Citing a rise in “appalling antisemitism” in Australia, right-wing Liberal Party senator Claire Chandler accused Sabsabi in a parliamentary meeting of “highlight[ing] a terrorist leader in his artwork.”
Affirming that Sabsabi opposes terrorism and violence in all its forms, including racism and antisemitism, Milani urged Creative Australia to reverse its decision to drop the artist’s biennale appointment in order to save his career. The gallerist said he has also written to Australian Minister for Home Affairs of Australia Tony Burke to take action.
“It’s not a question of political interference, but one of good governance,” Milani said.
Earlier this month, Creative Australia announced that the Australia Council Board, which oversees the federal arts body, had appointed advisory firm Blackhall and Pearl to review the “governance and decision-making process” for selecting the country’s Venice Biennale representation. Conducted over the next several months, the review aims to develop recommendations for the board to “ensure robust policies, processes and systems are in place for future selection processes.”
