the gathering is a programming series that supports Khaled Sabsabi's presentation at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, where he presents conference of one's self at the Australia Pavilion, and khalil within the International Exhibition In Minor Keys.
As part of these interconnected projects, the Artistic Team have brought people together through a series of gatherings centred on listening, sharing, and collaboration. These moments foster dialogue, build connections, and create opportunities for collective reflection.
The third gathering draws together artists, curators, writers, and scholars to explore relationships between spirituality, visual culture, and contemporary art through a series of conversations and illustrated presentations.
Developed by Education Partner UNSW Sydney in collaboration with Commissioner Creative Australia, the program is hosted by Ca' Foscari University of Venice.
PROGRAM
11.00–11.05am | Introduction
Catherine Woolley, UNSW Sydney
11.05–11.15am | Opening Remarks
Professor Claire Annesley, Dean UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture
11.15am–12.00pm | One's Self and the Friend
Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino
Khaled Sabsabi and Michael Dagostino introduce conference of one's self and khalil, reflecting on their development as interconnected companion projects. Drawing on an artistic relationship spanning almost three decades, the conversation considers collaboration as a long-term creative practice. They trace the encounters, dialogue, and shared ideas that have shaped the works over time, and continue to inform Sabsabi’s community-centred approach to artmaking.
12.00–1.00pm | Forms of Infinity
Claire Dillon and Dr Francesco Piraino
Offering historical and cultural context for Sabsabi’s practice, this session explores the intersections of Islamic visual culture, taṣawwuf (Sufism), and contemporary art. Art historian Claire Dillon situates Sabsabi's work within the layered histories of the Mediterranean, tracing lineages of Islamic visual culture, abstraction, and cultural exchange that continue to resonate in Venice.
Sociologist Dr Francesco Piraino expands this discussion through the intellectual and spiritual traditions of Sufism, considering their continuing significance within artistic practice, mysticism, and contemporary culture. Together, they reflect on how visual culture can become a site for aesthetic encounter and spiritual inquiry.
Followed by Q&A
1.00–2.00pm | Lunch
2.00–3.00pm | The Wandering Image
Dr Nur Shkembi OAM and Dr Clarissa Ricci
This session explores how images, artworks, and exhibitions can move across borders and time, creating new relationships through circulation and encounter. Dr Nur Shkembi OAM discusses The Invitation—400 unique paintings gifted by Sabsabi to visitors over the course of La Biennale. Shkembi considers how images travel beyond the gallery through acts of exchange, creating new forms of memory, community, and belonging.
Art historian Dr Clarissa Ricci widens the frame to consider the exhibition itself as a site of circulation and exchange. Drawing on her extensive research into exhibition histories, Ricci reflects on the changing role of the Venice Biennale as an evolving platform amid the global proliferation of biennials and large-scale international exhibitions. Together, the presentations trace the journeys of individual artworks beyond the exhibition and the international structures through which contemporary art circulates.
Followed by Q&A
Khaled Sabsabi
Artist, Australia Pavilion 2026
Khaled Sabsabi is an acclaimed, award-winning Australian multidisciplinary artist. For over 35 years, Sabsabi has worked across media and borders, collaborating with communities locally and internationally. Sabsabi’s work centres on social justice and lived experience, informed by his 1976 migration from Lebanon to Australia to escape the civil war. Sabsabi has received more than 15 international awards and has produced more than 65 major mixed-media and installation-based works to date, exhibiting in over 90 solo and group exhibitions in Australia and internationally. 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. Dagostino was the founding Director of Parramatta Artists Studios in 2006, establishing a key platform for emerging artists. From 2011–23, he was the Director of Campbelltown Arts Centre, where he delivered an artist-driven program, supporting local, national, and international collaborations.
Claire Dillon
Art Historian, Columbia University
Claire Dillon is an art historian and public scholar researching the intersections of visual cultures, identities, and faiths in the medieval Mediterranean and their modern afterlives. In addition to her writing on contemporary art, she studies histories of medieval silk production and its legacies in modern design, the architecture of Italian Empire, and the ways in which the medieval past is exploited by modern extremist movements. She is a PhD candidate at Columbia University, specialising in the arts of the lands of Islam. Her work has been supported by the American Academy in Rome, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Mellon Foundation, and the International Interfaith Research Lab, among other institutions.
Dr Francesco Piraino
Sociologist, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia
Dr Francesco Piraino is a sociologist of religion, culture, and art. He obtained his PhD in Sociology in 2016 at the Scuola Normale Superiore (Florence) and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris), and has held research positions at KU Leuven, CNRS, University of Bologna, and Harvard Divinity School. He is currently a tenure-track researcher at the University of Ca’ Foscari of Venice. He also serves as director of the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilizations and Spiritualities at the Cini Foundation in Venice. Piraino works on spirituality, esotericism, mysticism, and the relationship between art and religion, especially in the Islamic and Sufi frame. He has recently published Sufism in Europe: Islam, Esotericism, and the New Age (Edinburgh University Press, 2024) and edited Religious Dimensions of Conspiracy Theories Comparing and Connecting Old and New Trends (with Marco Pasi and Egil Asprem, Routledge 2022).
Dr Nur Shkembi OAM
Curator and Artistic Director, Museum of Islamic Art Australia (MIAA)
Dr Nur Shkembi OAM is an award-winning curator, writer, and art historian specialising in Islamic art, contemporary art, and postcolonial theory. Nur has produced and curated over 150 events, exhibitions, and community engagement projects, and was part of the core team which established the Islamic Museum of Australia located in Melbourne. Nur's practice focuses on developing contemporary Islamic art and building community awareness of the arts, specifically highlighting the presence of Australian Muslim artists in the cultural landscape. Nur is currently serving as the Artistic Director for the Museum of Islamic Art Australia (MIAA), a new major cultural initiative located in Western Sydney that is due to open to the public in early 2029.
Dr Clarissa Ricci
Art Historian, Università di Bologna
Dr Clarissa Ricci is an Adjunct Professor at University of Bologna whose research focuses on the history of exhibitions, biennials, fairs, markets, value, and contemporaneity. She is the Deputy Editor and founder of the academic journal OBOE: On Biennials and Other Exhibitions. She is the author of Aperto 1980-1993: La mostra dei giovani artisti alla Biennale di Venezia (2022) and editor of many volumes, including Starting from Venice: Studies on the Biennale (2011), and Double Trouble in Exhibiting the Contemporary: Art Fairs and Shows (2020). Ricci has published numerous essays in the Journal of Curatorial Studies, World Art, Journal of Modern Italian Studies, La Diana, Predella, and many others. She has collaborated with many institutions and assisted in field research for the British Council and ICR.