News

Australian Pavilion may be empty at Venice 2026; no resignations forthcoming

CEO Adrian Collette and Board Chair Robert Morgan will not be resigning, despite the damage caused by Creative Australia’s abrupt cancellation of Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino’s Venice Biennale contract.

26 Feb 2025 11:46

Richard Watts

Visual Arts

Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette AM. Photo: Creative Australia.

Artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino – whose invitation to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale was infamously rescinded earlier this month just six days after being announced – only received formal notification of their cancellation yesterday, it has emerged.

Creative Australia CEO Adrian Collette AM and Board Chair Robert Morgan made the admission last night (25 February) at a Senate Estimates hearing, which began at 8.30pm AEDT.

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Richard Watts

Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts