Australia Reveals Artist and Curator for 2026 Venice Biennale

Creative Australia, the country’s official arts council, has announced Khaled Sabsabi as the artist representing Australia at the 61st Venice Biennale, which is slated to open in April 2026. The project will be curated by Michael Dagostino, director of the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney.

Born in Tripoli, northwestern Lebanon, and migrating to Australia in 1977 during the Lebanese Civil War, Sabsabi is an award-winning artist whose multidisciplinary works engage with diverse communities and mediums, including video, installation, and mixed media. With a focus on identity politics and ideology, his practice is led by a deep sense of collective humanity. Throughout his more than 35-year career, Sabsabi has exhibited extensively across the world and participated in various major art events, including the Biennale of Sydney (2018), the Marrakech Biennale (2014), the Sharjah Biennale (2013), and the Yinchun Biennale (2016), among others. 

Speaking with ArtAsiaPacific, Sabsabi stated: “This is a great milestone, it’s the pinnacle of a career. To share ideas of identity, cultural diversity, and multiculturalism that reflect a modern Australian identity is critical to me, my process, and practice. It is also critical to art, in terms of art activism, responsibility, and accountability.” 

Dagostino is an esteemed curator who previously served as director of the Campbelltown Arts Centre (2011–23), where he led local, national, and international projects. There, he curated the exhibition “Cinemania” (2018) by Māori artist Lisa Reihana, and commissioned the Australian First Nations component of her video and sound installation in Pursuit of Venus [infected] (2015–17), which was shown in the New Zealand Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale.

Both Sabsabi and Dagostino have strong personal and professional ties to Western Sydney, a region located between metropolitan Sydney and the Blue Mountains. “Western Sydney is really important to the overall project,” Dagostino said, adding that “it is a place like no other; inclusive and empathetic, and about collaboration and diversity. The ability for this place to be profiled on the international stage is really exciting.”

Their project for the Australian Pavilion follows the Golden Lion-winning presentation of kith and kin (2024) by Kamilaroi/Bigambul artist Archie Moore at last year’s Venice Biennale, which was the first time an Australian artist received the award. 

Johanna Bear is a curator and writer based on Gadigal Country, Sydney. She is the assistant curator of contemporary Australian art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales; and ArtAsiaPacific’s Sydney desk editor.

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