Something’s finally worked for Khaled Sabsabi:
An exhibition featuring works by Lebanese Australian artist Khaled Sabsabi that was called off by Monash University in March will open to the public next week, with the university announcing it had reversed its decision.
Monash University “postponed” Stolon Press: Flat Earth at Monash University Museum of Art (Muma) in Melbourne in the wake of Sabsabi being dumped as Australia’s representative at the 2026 Venice Biennale. It was the first time a show had been pulled in Muma’s 50-year history.
The exhibition, originally scheduled to open on 8 May, includes large “spiritual” calligraphic paintings by Sabsabi that he has made with Lebanese coffee and draw on his “personal memories of his childhood in Lebanon during the civil war”.
At the time of the postponement, a spokesperson for Monash claimed “consultation with our communities” had revealed that Muma needed “to deepen its collaboration and engagement on this exhibition. Postponing the event will allow this important work to be undertaken.”
Sources told Guardian Australia they feared the timing indicated the decision had been influenced by federal arts body Creative Australia’s cancellation of Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino’s contract to represent Australia at the 2026 Venice Biennale. That decision followed days of pressure from The Australian newspaper and Liberal politicians over Sabsabi’s use of footage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in old works.
Sabsabi’s participation in a mass boycott of the 2022 Sydney festival over the sponsorship of an event by the Israeli embassy was also singled out by The Australian, amid a wider increased scrutiny of public figures who criticised Israel’s conduct in Gaza or spoke in support of Palestine after the start of the Israel-Gaza war.
Monash’s PR people are, per the article, claiming the bullshit with Creative Australia had nothing to do with their bullshit, but I’m going to boldly suggest that’s bullshit too; I can’t imagine the timing was purely coincidental. Anyway, the Oz will be livid now that the forces of wokeness have defied them on this one, so I suppose we’ll be seeing lots of whinging from them on the subject…
