Join us in Venice at the Australia Pavilion to attend the launch of the companion, a richly illustrated publication in collaboration with Spector Books, supporting Khaled Sabsabi’s presentation at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia.
To mark the launch, a brief conversation will take place in the Australia Pavilion guided by Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino, followed by an opportunity for gathering and celebration.
Alongside documentation of both works, this publication features new writing by Michael Dagostino, Claire Dillon, Kon Gouriotis OAM, Tahmina Maskinyar, Hammad Nasar, Dr Nur Shkembi OAM, and Dr Mikala Tai, edited by José Da Silva.
To place a preorder for the companion, please email venice@creative.gov.au
For further distribution and press materials see here
To enter the Giardini della Biennale, you must purchase an entry ticket through the La Biennale di Venezia website
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.
José Da Silva
Editor
José Da Silva is an Australian curator and the Director of Sydney’s UNSW Galleries, where he has led a program of contemporary Australian art and design since 2018. In 2024, he curated the 18th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art and became Chair of University Art Museums Australia. From 2006-18, he also contributed widely to a program of exhibitions, commissions, acquisitions, and events at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, including a role in the curatoriums for five editions of the ‘Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’. He has contributed writing to a wide variety of publications, including monographs for the Queensland Art Gallery, National Gallery of Australia, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Room40, Gertrude Contemporary, and Institute of Modern Art.
Suzanne Boccalatte
Designer
Suzanne Boccalatte is an award-winning designer, writer and cultural theorist whose practice spans more than three decades. As founder and creative director of Boccalatte, she has led visual and strategic work across Australia’s cultural sector for organisations including Powerhouse, ACMI, Carriageworks, Sydney Opera House, ABC, the Art Gallery of South Australia, HOTA, Bundanon and UNSW Galleries. Her work is held in national collections including the National Gallery of Australia and Powerhouse. Boccalatte was formerly Professor of Practice at UNSW Art & Design and completed a PhD at Western Sydney University in 2026.