conference of one’s self draws inspiration as a starting point from The Conference of the Birds, the twelfth-century poem by Farīd-al-dīn Aṭṭār, in which a group of birds travel through seven valleys in search of a guide and, at the end of their quest, arrive at a shared self. Khaled has added an eighth valley, which is inherent in the spiritual structures of taṣawwuf (Sufi) practice.
the vision
“There cannot be a final outcome, destination or form. We are processes, circumstances, passages—as everything is flowing—nothing is ever still.”
— Khaled Sabsabi
Khaled Sabsabi uses moving image, sound, painting, and installation to explore human collectiveness, the complexities of identity politics, and the impact of ideology. Informed by his lived experience, taṣawwuf (Sufi) lineage and spiritual teachings, he uses repetition, rhythm and duration throughout his practice as tools for engagement and contemplation.
“I firmly believe that a shared humanity has always relied upon our sense of imagination. I make art that creates possibilities to push limits and question perceptions of who we are.”
— Khaled Sabsabi
Sabsabi’s project for the Australia Pavilion is the installation conference of one’s self, and is accompanied by the companion work khalil presented as part of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia – In Minor Keys. Sabsabi offers both works as a proposition towards an idea of a shared humanity, informed by the futurity generated when migrant experiences, journeys, and encounters are acknowledged and respected.
Sabsabi’s interest in ideas of belonging, becoming, and cultural responsibility is grounded in his childhood experiences following the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon, his migration to Australia in 1976, and his long connection to the culturally diverse communities in Western Sydney where his family lives. For Sabsabi, the project offers a counterpoint to the disorder and uncertainty engulfing the contemporary moment, demonstrating what could be possible when cultural, linguistic and spiritual differences are honoured within individual and collective experiences.
Aṭṭār’s poem The Conference of the Birds describes the seven valleys in stages of spiritual transformation: quest, love, knowledge, detachment, unity, bewilderment, and annihilation. Sabsabi’s installation seeks to extend this by introducing an eighth level, an opening toward a complete state of balance and wholeness. The title conference of one’s self, signals a gathering within the self and a plurality in which the self is composed of parts. These parts are brought into relation, shaped by history, belief, and encounters.
For Sabsabi, the number eight signifies completeness and the elevated self:
“I see the eighth level as a symbolic stage of transformation, bringing the audience closer to their truths, where questions become more valuable than answers. Truth isn’t something you find; it is something you become ready to see.”
— Khaled Sabsabi
conference of one’s self comes together through eight elements within the project:
the invitation
the threshold
the eight
the reverberation
the script
the commitment
the companion
one’s self
As audiences step inside the Australia Pavilion, they are surrounded by colour and vibration, with no fixed horizon or position. Eight paintings suspended within the space are met with the light of the moving image, refracting among themselves and escaping immediate visual perception. The octagonal form of the work cannot be stepped into and cannot be seen in totality. As one’s gaze settles, clarity in the imagery slowly appears across the eight surfaces, carried by a soundscape that swells, blurs and merges the divides between the real and the unreal, the physical and the conference of metaphysical.
“Is an altered state of consciousness one’s self searching physically for the innermost part of the heart, in which discovery and realisation may be experienced? The absence of a fixed horizon shifts how the body moves through the space. There is no single point of view. The viewer navigates through sensation and an awareness of time.”
— Khaled Sabsabi
Sound completes this multisensory choreography, connecting the visual compositions of the work and building a shared pulse. The sound within the work draws from the ancient act of rhythmic percussion, a universal language present since the beginning and unbound from a singular civilisation, language, faith or place.
In conference of one’s self, all are invited to listen, breathe and reflect upon the steady, enveloping—pulse of life and the collective human experience of acceptance, existence and coexistence.
THE ARTIST
Khaled Sabsabi
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.
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 sees art as an effective tool to communicate and converse with people, through a familiar language, creating immersive and engaging experiences. Khaled started out his artistic practice working in hip-hop, as a performer and as a youth worker, engaging with Arabic, Aboriginal, and Pacific Islander communities. As he established his artistic practice, he also worked in detention centres, schools, prisons, refugee and settlement camps, hospitals and youth centres. This foundational means of community informed public service helped to establish social advocacy as the core of his process and practice and continues to impact his art making.
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 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, research and community engagement.
As the 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 Pavillion 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.
Dagostino has received Imagine Awards and ICOM awards for institutional excellence. His board memberships include Sydney Dance Company, FBi Radio, Accessible Arts, Artspace and the Sydney Writers’ Festival, alongside advisory roles for the New South Wales Government. He remains committed to advancing museums’ role in fostering access, equity and authorship.
THE CURATOR
Michael Dagostino
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, research and community engagement.
