MELBOURNE - After months of controversy and accusations of antisemitism, Australia's largest and most prestigious arts festival, The Biennale of Sydney, has opened with statements accusing Israel of genocide.
The event, which receives funding from the federal government of Australia and the state government of New South Wales, included explanation cards at exhibits and on the official website referencing "the genocide in Palestine" and "the genocide in Gaza". It follows more than a year of concerns expressed by prominent Jews involved in the arts in Australia that the event will be a showcase for antisemitism.
Out of 83 artists and collections from 37 countries, 47 are Arab and Muslim artists. No Israeli artists have been invited, nor Jewish artists other than an avowed anti-Israeli American-Jewish artist, Michael Rakowitz.
The creative director of this year's event is Hoor al-Qasimi, the daughter of the ruler of Sharjah in the UAE. Her appointment as creative director in 2024 caused a furore among Jewish philanthropists in the arts world because of her social media posts accusing Israel of genocide and statements such as: "None of us will be free until Palestine is free."
Her father is on the record as saying that "the Zionist presence in Palestine is a cancerous growth within the heart of the Arab nation."
Prestigious Australian art festival accuses Israel of genocide
One of the artists, an "emerging Turkish artist," Aysenur Kara, writes on the Biennale of Sydney's official website, says "she aims to use her material conceptions to platform those facing genocide in Gaza right now."
Another artist, Hoda Afshar, came with an artist's statement that referenced "the genocide in Palestine". Afshar, an Iranian artist based in Australia, has been accused by Iranian dissidents in Instagram posts as supporting the Iranian regime.
The Biennale of Sydney has already attracted controversy when a Jewish former board member, Morry Schwartz, confronted the biennale's board over controversial posts by one of the participating artists that likened him and another prominent businessman and philanthropist to Nazis.
"I noticed that two of the artists have ushered in an era in which all pretence has been discarded, and the attacks are now on 'Jews," he wrote to the board last year. "It is up to the...board to decide if they are willing to tolerate and host undisguised antisemitism by platforming vocal antisemites."
One example that Schwartz provided was an artist participating at the Biennale of Sydney reposting a third-party post that said: "Jewish supremacy is a disease."
Jewish-Australian philanthropists whose donations have been the backbone of the Australian arts world for decades have cut or cancelled their funding of the arts in Australia since the October 7 massacre due to an outpouring of Hamas sympathy and antisemitism from Australia's art establishment and artists, including many who get funded by the Australian government.