The fallout continues from Creative Australia's disastrous handling of its Venice Biennale commission with acting chair Wesley Enoch apologizing to Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino who were commissioned, dropped and reinstated in the space of five months.
He apologized for the "hurt and pain" caused to the pair, who were reinstated yesterday, and admitted their art had been "mischaracterized” after politicians raised concerns about some of Sabsabi's early work featuring images of a Hezbollah leader and the September 11 attacks.
The Lebanese-Australian artist rejected accusations his work promotes antisemitism or terrorism and is now officially back in favor for next year's event, but the affair has left serious questions about the public body that serves as the arts funding and advisory body for the government.
Juliana Engberg, who curated the Australian pavilion at Venice in 2007 and 2019, said it had to "renovate its board and leadership". She told the Sydney Morning Herald the controversy had been "one of the most disastrous and unfair episodes" in the organization's history.
Writing on Instagram, Max Delany, the former head of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, said it had been a "shameful episode".