Join artist Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino for a special conversation reflecting on their collaboration for the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
A UNSW Art & Design alumnus with a longstanding connection to Western Sydney, Sabsabi represented Australia in Venice this year with two major presentations: conference of one’s self at the Australia Pavilion and khalil in the International Exhibition, In Minor Keys.
As Education Partner for Australia’s presentation, UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture worked with Commissioner Creative Australia to create a program of learning, exchange and critical discussion around Sabsabi’s practice and the ideas informing these interconnected projects.
Returning to Art & Design, Sabsabi and Dagostino will discuss the development of the works and the artistic and curatorial process behind bringing them to Venice. Drawing on a creative relationship spanning almost three decades, they will reflect on collaboration, community, spirituality and the translation of ideas into two distinct exhibition contexts.
The conversation offers UNSW Art & Design students and staff an opportunity to hear directly from the artist and curator about the realities of developing work for the world’s most significant international contemporary art exhibition, from the evolution of the initial curatorial proposition through to making, installation and reception in Venice.
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Copies of the accompanying publication, the companion recently launched at the Biennale, will also be available.
the companion
The hardcover publication documents and provides new insights on both exhibitions presented by Sabsabi, conference of one’s self at the Australia Pavilion curated by Michael Dagostino, and khalil within the international exhibition In Minor Keys, conceived by the late curator Koyo Kouoh.
Edited by José Da Silva, Director of UNSW Galleries, Sydney, and designed by Suzanne Boccalatte, founder and creative director of Boccalatte design consultancy, the publication features essays by writers and academics who have followed Sabsabi’s career and practice, providing valuable perspectives and deeper understanding of the artist and his work.
Contributors include: Michael Dagostino, curator of the Australia Pavilion; Claire Dillon, art historian and public scholar; Kon Gouriotis, managing director of Bandicoot Publishing, Art Almanac, and Artist Profile; Tahmina Maskinyar, researcher, writer, and curator at West Space, Melbourne; Hammad Nasar, curator, writer, and director of programmes and content at Ibraaz, London; Nur Shkembi, curator, writer, and art historian; and Mikala Tai, writer, curator, and cultural strategist.
Title: the companion
Editor: José Da Silva
Designer: Suzanne Boccalatte
Pub Date: 23 September 2026
Binding: Hardcover
Extent: 256 pages
Illustrations: 150 color images
Trim Size: 14.5 x 19.5 cm
ISBN: 978-3-69370-002-0 EN
Price: 32 euros
Khaled Sabsabi
Artist, Australia Pavilion 2026
Khaled Sabsabi is an acclaimed, award-winning Australian multidisciplinary artist whose work explores human collectiveness, the complexities of identity politics, and the impact of ideology through a continual transfer between the material and the philosophical. For over 35 years, he has worked across mediums and borders, collaborating with communities locally and internationally. Sabsabi’s work centres on social justice and lived experience informed by his migration from Lebanon in 1976 to escape the civil war. Sabsabi has been the recipient of more than fifteen international awards, including the Creative Australia ‘Annual Visual Arts Award’ 2023, International Council of Museums' and Heritage Awards, Video Art Prize 2016, and the Sharjah Art Programme Prize in 2016. He has produced more than 65 major mixed media and installation-based works to date, exhibiting in over 90 solo and group art exhibitions in Australia and internationally including 5th Marrakech Biennale, 18th Biennale of Sydney and the 21st Biennale of Sydney, 9th Shanghai Biennale, Sharjah Biennial 11, 1st Yinchuan Biennale, 3rd Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art 2018 and 2024. Sabsabi is represented by Milani Gallery, Brisbane.
Michael Dagostino
Curator, Australia Pavilion 2026
Michael Dagostino is the Director of the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney. As a relatively new museum, it unites the university’s diverse collections into a multidisciplinary institution dedicated to education and community engagement. As founding director of Parramatta Artists Studios, he established a key platform for emerging artists. In 2011, he became Director of Campbelltown Arts Centre, where he continued an artist-driven program supporting local, national, and international collaborations. Notable projects include With Secrecy and Despatch (2016), co-curated with Tess Allas and David Garneau, exploring colonial impacts through the Appin Massacre, and Another Day in Paradise (2017), showcasing Myuran Sukumaran’s work co-curated by Ben Quilty. Dagostino curated Lisa Reihana’s Cinemania (2018) and commissioned the Australian First Nations component of her In Pursuit of Venus [Infected] for the New Zealand Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (2017). A Hope and A Promise (2021), co-curated by Adam Porter and Matt Cox, surveyed Khaled Sabsabi’s 30-year practice held at the Art Gallery of NSW and Campbelltown Arts Centre.
About the Partnership
UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture (ADA) has been appointed as the exclusive Education Partner for Australia’s participation in the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The appointment marks a significant new partnership between UNSW Sydney and Creative Australia, the Australian Government’s peak arts funding body and the commissioning organisation for Australia’s representation at the Venice Biennale 2026. As Education Partner, UNSW ADA, led by UNSW Galleries, is delivering a comprehensive suite of public programs in Sydney and Venice, developing education resources and the Pavilion’s official catalogue, and creating professional learning opportunities for UNSW students and staff.