Monash University Museum of Art postpones Khaled Sabsabi exhibition after Venice Biennale controversy

Monash University Museum of Art in Melbourne has indefinitely postponed an exhibition featuring Khaled Sabsabi, marking the first cancellation in the institution's fifty-year history. The decision follows Sabsabi's removal as Australia's representative for the 2026 Venice Biennale on February 7, just five days after his appointment was announced. Pressure from critics and questions in the Australian Senate by Claire Chandler regarding Sabsabi's 2007 work depicting a former Hezbollah leader led to the withdrawal. Titled Stolon Press: Flat Earth, the exhibition was scheduled to open on May 8 after eighteen months of preparation, featuring Sabsabi alongside Sydney-based collective Stolon Press and writer-anthropologist Elisa Taber. Sabsabi's gallerist Josh Milani claimed that MUMA curators faced pressure from superiors following the Venice Biennale dismissal, allowing mischaracterizations of Sabsabi as a terrorist sympathizer to persist. A Monash University spokesperson stated that postponement allows for deeper community collaboration and engagement on the exhibition. The Venice Biennale commission was managed by Creative Australia, which terminated Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino's involvement.