Khaled Sabsabi will represent Australia at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026 with two major installations. At the Australia Pavilion, he presents "conference of one's self," an immersive multisensory installation featuring eight monumental canvas paintings, suspended video projectors, and an analogue soundscape, all inspired by the 12th-century Sufi allegory "The Conference of the Birds." In a historic first for an Australian artist, Sabsabi also debuts a second work, "khalil," in the Biennale's main exhibition "In Minor Keys" curated by Koyo Kouoh at the Arsenale. Both works explore spirituality, migration, and shared humanity through a Sufi philosophical framework.
This dual presentation marks a milestone for Australian contemporary art on the global stage, as Sabsabi becomes the first Australian artist to show simultaneously in both the national pavilion and the central exhibition. The installations offer a contemplative counterpoint to contemporary disorder, emphasizing empathy, collective experience, and the honoring of cultural and spiritual differences. The project underscores the Biennale's role as a platform for cross-cultural dialogue and positions Sabsabi's practice—rooted in his own experience as a Lebanese-born migrant—within an international conversation about identity, displacement, and belonging.