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Khaled Sabsabi and the Venice Biennale art scandal · The Front

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  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
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  Speaker 1: It's Tuesday, February eighteen. Australians deserve a rate card after
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  Speaker 1: a year of stagnation. That's the plea from federal ministers.
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  Speaker 1: As the Reserve Bank Board prepares for its first meeting
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  Speaker 1: of the year at two thirty pm on Tuesday, we'll
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  Speaker 1: find out if the bank will finally shift the cash
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  Speaker 1: rate from four point three five percent. Head to the
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  Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot a U to make sure you're
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  Speaker 1: the first to know. Students are failing to grasp the
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  Speaker 1: basics of Australian democracy and political systems. Only about thirty
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  Speaker 1: percent of year ten students meet or exceed the proficient standards.
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  Speaker 1: That's the lowest since testing began back in two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and four, and Australia's arts scene has been robbed by
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  Speaker 1: a major contra. Artist Khaled Sabsabi was picked and then
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  Speaker 1: sacked from representing Australia at the Venice Bnali in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty six. The decision has led to accusations of political
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  Speaker 1: interference and left the country's official arts council in a shambles.
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  Speaker 1: That's today's story. The Venice Bionali is a bit like
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  Speaker 1: the Olympics for the Arts, a one hundred and thirty
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  Speaker 1: year old international exhibition where artists are chosen by their
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  Speaker 1: countries to show their works and hopefully push some boundaries
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  Speaker 1: in the way only art can. Venice is where post
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  Speaker 1: impressionist Henri Matisse and surrealist Edward Munsch and Rene Magrit
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  Speaker 1: hit the international consciousness in the early twentieth century. In
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  Speaker 1: nineteen thirty four, Adolf Hitler showed up. In nineteen sixty six,
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  Speaker 1: Japanese outsider Yayoi Kosama staged a guerrilla show that's set
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  Speaker 1: her on track to be the world's most popular artist today.
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  Speaker 1: In the seventies, an Italian artist put a boy with
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  Speaker 1: down syndrome on display, and last year activists demanded Israel
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  Speaker 1: be excluded, and then Israel's chosen artist refused to unlock
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  Speaker 1: the pavilion until there was a ceasefire and hostage release
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  Speaker 1: in Gaza. The locked Israeli pavilion attracted protesters anyway. The
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four Binali was an important moment for Australia too.
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  Speaker 1: Archie Moore, a Camillroy Bigumbull artist, one a golden Lion,
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  Speaker 1: joining the ranks of former winners like Cy Twombly, Alberto Giercmetti,
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  Speaker 1: Robert Rauschenberg and Henry Moore. It was a huge win
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  Speaker 1: for Creative Australia, the government body in charge of choosing
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  Speaker 1: a curator and an artist for the exhibit. But less
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  Speaker 1: than a year later, Creative Australia is in turmoil and
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  Speaker 1: it all has to do with an artist they picked
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  Speaker 1: and then dumped for twenty twenty six.
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  Speaker 2: My name is Karalette Subsaba. I'm a visual artist and
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  Speaker 2: a cultural practitioner. My connection with us started at a
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  Speaker 2: really young age in Lebanon. I would set and draw,
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  Speaker 2: being six and seven years old.
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  Speaker 1: Khalette Subsavi was born in Lebanon but migrated with his
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  Speaker 1: family to Australia in the seventies.
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  Speaker 3: Expression is hip hop.
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  Speaker 2: Hip hop is expression from poetry and that's all.
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  Speaker 1: Eventually, Subsabi found his way to the art world, working
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  Speaker 1: across sound, installations and video. A lot of Subsab's work
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  Speaker 1: plays with identity, ideology and religion, like his two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and six video thank You very Much. In the short work,
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  Speaker 1: several clips of the nine to eleven Attack are frenetically
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  Speaker 1: edited together, finishing on this line from former President George Bush.
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  Speaker 4: Thankank, thank you, thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: On February four, Creative Australia, that's the government's vehicle for
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  Speaker 1: investing in the arts, announced Australia's representatives at the twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty six BNALI would be carl Ed Subsabi and curator
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  Speaker 1: Michael de Gastino.
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  Speaker 4: Immediately that saw a flurry of messages come through on
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  Speaker 4: my phone from people who had a view about that.
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  Speaker 1: This is Yoanni Bashan, the co editor of our business
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  Speaker 1: column Margin Call.
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  Speaker 5: Now, I've never heard of this guy before. I'm not
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  Speaker 5: an arts reporter.
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  Speaker 4: I write business gossip in the Australia and you know,
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  Speaker 4: I'm really I'm tied up in the corporate world.
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  Speaker 5: This is all a bit too fluty for me, this
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  Speaker 5: sort of stuff.
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  Speaker 4: But but people are coming to me and saying, look,
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  Speaker 4: this is a really unusual decision that's been made by
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  Speaker 4: this agency called Creative Australia, which I think i'd heard
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  Speaker 4: of at the time, another obscure government agency amply funded
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  Speaker 4: with you know, millions and millions of dollars of taxpayer funds.
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  Speaker 4: So I took a look at it. And as you'll remember,
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  Speaker 4: I consulted with you. I came your desk and I said, look,
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  Speaker 4: I've had a look at this guy's art. I think
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  Speaker 4: it's a little bit ambiguous on the question of whether
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  Speaker 4: he is an out and out supporter of Hassan Masrala,
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  Speaker 4: the leader of the terrorist group Vesbalah.
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  Speaker 1: Sabsabi's work You from two thousand and seven, which is
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  Speaker 1: still available on his website, and that at the Museum
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  Speaker 1: of Contemporary Art in Sydney, features a video recording of
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  Speaker 1: the late Hezbala leader Hassan Nazarewa what harahmah what praamanaam?
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  Speaker 1: Glowing beams of light emanate from Nazarella's mouth and eyes
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  Speaker 1: as he talks.
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  Speaker 4: Some of his art seems to chronicle what occurred in
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  Speaker 4: Lebanon after the two thousand and six war with Israel,
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  Speaker 4: which lasted thirty four days. So for example, in that case,
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  Speaker 4: Subsabi did a series of watercolors about Lebanon, one for
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  Speaker 4: each day of the war, so a series of thirty
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  Speaker 4: four and there's plenty of imagery in those watercolors of
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  Speaker 4: a devastated landscape, buildings that have fallen down, and kids
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  Speaker 4: picking through rubble all the images that you would expect,
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  Speaker 4: and then suddenly there's a picture of Nsraela and you know,
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  Speaker 4: interesting questionable should that have been there?
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  Speaker 5: It's not for me to decide. I'm a journalist, I'm
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  Speaker 5: not an arts patron.
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  Speaker 4: Me as the writer, as the journo, It's not for
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  Speaker 4: me to figure out or solve the mystery of what
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  Speaker 4: colour Subsabi thinks about Hassan Nasrala.
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  Speaker 5: My job is to ask the question, well, here is.
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  Speaker 4: An artist who receives ample tax payer funds to produce
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  Speaker 4: his work and then is chosen by Creative Australia to
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  Speaker 4: represent all Australians at the Venice Bingali. Was this the
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  Speaker 4: correct choice for Creative Australia to pursue? And after that
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  Speaker 4: question was posed in the margin cor column, it seemed
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  Speaker 4: that everything seemed to come undone for Subsabi.
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  Speaker 5: From there we had questions raised in Parliament.
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  Speaker 3: Why is the Abenese government allowing a person who highlights
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  Speaker 3: a terrorist leader in his artwork to represent Australia on
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  Speaker 3: the international stage at the Venice BIONALI excellent, Thank.
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  Speaker 6: You Senator Chamberman, Thank you President Senator. I wasn't aware
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  Speaker 6: of the facts, as you outlined in your question until now.
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  Speaker 6: I agree with you that any glorification of the Isbella
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  Speaker 6: leader in Israela is inappropriate. We condemn Hisbella unequivocally.
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  Speaker 3: Will the Benezy government immediately reverse the decision for mister
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  Speaker 3: Sabsabi to represent Australia at the Venice Bienalis.
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  Speaker 6: Senator Cash, if you could just let me answer.
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  Speaker 1: Ye Border Border.
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  Speaker 6: Senator, I wasn't aware of this until you asked me.
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  Speaker 6: I certainly will get advice and I share your concerns
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  Speaker 6: about Hisbella.
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  Speaker 4: We hadmergent late night board meeting called by Creative Australia
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  Speaker 4: just a few days after they proudly announced him as
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  Speaker 4: the representative, and then spectacularly, the board unanimously decided to
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  Speaker 4: withdraw his selection.
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  Speaker 5: And we've seen just a tremendous amount fallout from.
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  Speaker 1: There coming up how the arts community has reacted. What
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  Speaker 1: we were talking about in the newsroom is the idea
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  Speaker 1: that an artwork depicting a very controversial figure is not
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  Speaker 1: necessarily in and of itself problematic. You know, I could
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  Speaker 1: imagine that artwork depicting Vladimir Putin or Osama bin Laden
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  Speaker 1: and being ambiguous, you know, prompting questions, which is what
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  Speaker 1: art is supposed to do, about whether this person deserves
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  Speaker 1: to be deified and why people either loathe or love
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  Speaker 1: this person. So it's intriguing then, given that Subsabi's work
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  Speaker 1: could be interpreted as ambiguous, that Creative Australia acted so
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  Speaker 1: quickly to drop him from the BNR, something they've never
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  Speaker 1: done before. What's your instinct about why is it? Because
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  Speaker 1: in fact the work is not really ambiguous, and in
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  Speaker 1: fact they believe that he is deifying a figure like
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  Speaker 1: asn Israela.
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  Speaker 5: I don't think that's the issue.
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  Speaker 4: I don't think that this was a conflict at the
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  Speaker 4: broad level of Creative Australia about tastes and values. I
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  Speaker 4: think they're supportive of art in all its forms and
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  Speaker 4: in the forms that you just specified. But I think
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  Speaker 4: the issue with Subsabi and Creative Australia is that it
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  Speaker 4: quickly became a political matter, and it became a political
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  Speaker 4: op potato.
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  Speaker 5: I mean, consider the environment we're in at the.
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  Speaker 4: Moment where the motor force of our cultural dialogue at
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  Speaker 4: the moment is largely about anti Semitism. If it's not
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  Speaker 4: cost of living, for example, but we're talking about these issues,
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  Speaker 4: and Creative Australia optically is seen to have chosen a
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  Speaker 4: person who has on numerous occasions placed Hassan Masrala in
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  Speaker 4: his art and, on at least one occasion, at the
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  Speaker 4: center of his work. And at the same time Subsabi
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  Speaker 4: has being shy about vocalizing his views on the Middle
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  Speaker 4: Eastern conflicts in the Middle East. So, for example, Subsavi
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  Speaker 4: was someone who boycotted the twenty twenty two Sydney Festival
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  Speaker 4: merely because the organizers of the Sydney Festival had accepted
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  Speaker 4: a twenty thousand dollars funding sponsorship grant from the Israeli embassy,
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  Speaker 4: and that wasn't to host the festival itself, it was
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  Speaker 4: actually to host a choreographed work by an Israeli choreographer.
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  Speaker 4: So on that basis, a large number of artists decided
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  Speaker 4: to boycott the festival, and Subsavi was one of them.
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  Speaker 4: But Creative Australia's decision to withdraw its selection of him
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  Speaker 4: smacks of a board running scared from a political ship fight,
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  Speaker 4: one that just that day had been ventilated in Federal Parliament.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and now the board itself, despite that unanimous decision,
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  Speaker 1: is itself the subject of ructions. So probably one of
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  Speaker 1: Australia's most famous currently working artists, Lindy Lee, whose huge
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  Speaker 1: sculpture was unveiled outside the National Gallery of Australia just
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  Speaker 1: a few months ago, has quit the board. What do
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  Speaker 1: you think he's going on within that board.
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  Speaker 4: It's really interesting with Linda Lee in particular, because from
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  Speaker 4: what I understand, it certainly looked as though she had
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  Speaker 4: quit in protest over this decision. She didn't suddenly leave
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  Speaker 4: the board because health reasons or any other matter. I mean,
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  Speaker 4: she had written a letter to the board which hasn't
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  Speaker 4: been made public, but I've had part of its contents
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  Speaker 4: read to me, and what I've been told about her
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  Speaker 4: reasons for resigning is not that she did so own
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  Speaker 4: protests necessarily.
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  Speaker 5: In fact, in her letter to the board she said
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  Speaker 5: that she supported.
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  Speaker 4: The unanimous decision to withdraw SUBSAVI selection, which is incredible
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  Speaker 4: in itself, But given that she supported the board's decision
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  Speaker 4: to do so, it would seem that for one reason
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  Speaker 4: or another, her position has become untenable and that was
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  Speaker 4: her decision for leaving it.
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  Speaker 1: One of the other thing that's happened is that a
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  Speaker 1: very prominent philanthropist Simon Mordant, who's funded a lot of
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  Speaker 1: Australia's entries to the Veniceana Lee has resigned as a
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  Speaker 1: b and only ambassador and withdrawn his financial pledge to
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  Speaker 1: support Australia's participation. They've also been two senior Creative Australia
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  Speaker 1: figures depart, Mikaela Tyan Tamina Maskinna, who are working there
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  Speaker 1: and responsible for handing out grants. What's your sense of
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  Speaker 1: where this drama goes now?
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  Speaker 5: Well, I think we're going to see continued protests.
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  Speaker 4: A week ago we had staff walkouts from some Creative
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  Speaker 4: Australia facilities. I think more significantly this is going to
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  Speaker 4: Senate estimates, and when this.
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  Speaker 5: Does come up at Cenate estimates, it's my expectation.
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  Speaker 4: That a more fulsome explanation of what actually occurred in
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  Speaker 4: this selection process will unfold, and I think there are
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  Speaker 4: a couple of surprises that are probably in store. I
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  Speaker 4: do wonder very seriously about the future of the agency
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  Speaker 4: under its CEO, Adrian Collette. I think people following this
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  Speaker 4: story will be asking questions about the transparency of the
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  Speaker 4: grant processes that have existed at Creative Australia for a
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  Speaker 4: number of years. I think they'll be wondering about some
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  Speaker 4: of the people who've been employed at Creative Australia and
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  Speaker 4: their ideological leanings and biases in some cases. So I
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  Speaker 4: do think that there is the opportunity for a reckoning
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  Speaker 4: to take place and for a magnification of the inner workings.
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  Speaker 5: Of Creative Australia.
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  Speaker 4: It just it strikes me as one of these classic
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  Speaker 4: government agencies that no one really pays attention to, and
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  Speaker 4: that kind of exists in the shadows of the much
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  Speaker 4: larger departments. You know, we always talk about Treasury, we
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  Speaker 4: talk about the Department of Health. We don't really talk
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  Speaker 4: about the obscure, little satellite agencies that kind of all
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  Speaker 4: but the rest of the federal government, but are recipients
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  Speaker 4: of huge amounts of taxpayer funding and it's people are
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  Speaker 4: custodians for this funding, and they kind of operate in
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  Speaker 4: these shadows. I think the irony of a situation like
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  Speaker 4: the one we're talking about now is that, yes, we're
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  Speaker 4: talking about the withdrawal of Carlott Subsavi, you know, an
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  Speaker 4: artist that some people may have heard of, many people
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  Speaker 4: wouldn't have But what this is going to end up
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  Speaker 4: leading to is far more scrutiny of Creative Australia and
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  Speaker 4: the people who've been running it.
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  Speaker 1: Jonni Veshan's column Margin Call is in The Australian Tuesday
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  Speaker 1: to Saturday, and online all the time at the Australian
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  Speaker 1: dot com dot a