If you were at Monash’ Caulfield campus during the semester break, you might have picked up the scent of strong black coffee and followed it into the Museum of Modern Art (MUMA), tucked away behind the library.

The special brew of Lebanese coffee dripping down the walls and coagulating on the floor was “Aajnya” by Khaled Sabsabi, an artwork installed for the exhibition, Stolon Press: Flat earth (29 May - 12 July 2025).

Sabsabi’s “Aajnya” (bread) comes from a childhood memory of aajnya made with the condensation on the walls under a building where his family sheltered during the Lebanese civil war. Replacing condensation with coffee (a symbol of hospitality), Sabsabi has turned a traumatic memory into a calm and inviting space. 

Stolon Press: Flat earth was the brainchild of Stolon Press duo, writer Tom Melick and artist Simryn Gill. 

As explained on MUMA’s website, Flat earth is conceived as a flattened ‘map’, a shared space where artistic, linguistic and material practices converge. Stolon Press invited two longtime associates, Khaled Sabsabi, a visual artist, and Elisa Taber, an anthropologist, to collaborate on the project. 

The exhibition was set to open on May 8, but on March 25, the University announced it was postponing Flat earth indefinitely. 

Though the University did not identify what triggered the postponement, it followed Creative Australia’s decision in February 2025 to withdraw Sabsabi’s commission to represent Australia at the prestigious 2026 Venice Biennale.

Then, on May 22, the University announced the exhibition would be opening for a six-week season on May 29. 

So how did an exhibition like Flat earth, with its highly conceptual focus, come to be postponed? And what prompted the University to reinstate the exhibition two months later? 

MOJO News has been investigating the story behind this exhibition. 

Creative Australia: Sabsabi’s Venice Biennale appointment selected and withdrawn

Flat earth was caught in the wake of Creative Australia’s decision to withdraw its commission for Sabsabi to represent Australia at the 2026 Venice Biennale.

On February 7 2025, Creative Australia announced Sabsabi and Dagostino would represent Australia at the prestigious 2026 Venice Biennale - the arts equivalent of the Olympics. 

But the appointment was short-lived. On February 13, 2025, opposition arts spokesperson Senator Claire Chandler queried the appointment in federal parliament, describing Sabsabi as "A person who highlights a terrorist leader" - a reference to images of a now deceased Hezbollah leader used in an earlier work. 

That evening, a hastily convened meeting of Creative Australia’s Board withdrew the team’s appointment. 

The withdrawal created a furore, with thousands petitioning for the team’s reinstatement, and Creative Australia announcing an external review.

Sabsabi described the accusation as “ridiculous”, stating: “I do not stand for terrorism, racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, or any form of hate … I’m an artist, not a politician, and my work for over 35 years is about finding ways to converse through complexity.” 

Coates: “There was nothing controversial in our exhibition”

Flat earth was the next scheduled exhibition of Sabsabi’s work after Creative Australia’s decision. 

MUMA director, Dr Rebecca Coates said it was her job to brief the University. 

“The first phase,” Dr Coates said, involved “sharing the planning and the sorts of considerations we do for any exhibition with the wider university.”  

Dr Coates said she explained the artworks cited as problematic had been inaccurately represented. 

“They had been in the public realm for twenty years, and they were not – and were never going to be – part of Flat earth”.

“There was nothing controversial in our exhibition, which is about something completely different."

"Our recommendation was to put it on, but to manage it,” she said. 

Despite this, the University decided to postpone the exhibition. Media reports of the decision quoted a university spokesperson as saying:

"Through consultation with our communities we have identified there is a need for the Museum to deepen its collaboration and engagement on this exhibition. Postponing the event will allow this important work to be undertaken." 

2025 is MUMA’s fiftieth anniversary and “never, ever before, have we had an exhibition postponed,” Coates said. 

Dr Coates was keen to distance MUMA from the University’s decision. 

“We knew … that there would be enormous interest in this."

"Once the university had decided to postpone the exhibition, we needed to manage the comms side of things from MUMA’s reputational perspective."

"I was able to say, ‘MUMA was unable to comment on a decision that was taken by Monash University,” she told MOJO News.

Dr Coates described the correspondence she was dealing with - from people who supported MUMA “but nonetheless had to voice their concern for what was happening” - as a “tsunami”. 

MUMA curator-researcher Dr Stephanie Berlangieri said the postponement was “very disappointing, upsetting”.

But Berlangieri said MUMA staff “felt really supported by the students here, other academics in fine arts and architecture and in the arts community”. 

MUMA staff were given front row seats at a public forum organised by art magazine Memo Review the week after the postponement. 

“It was a really really amazing moment where the arts community came together," Dr Berlangieri said.

"There were hundreds of people in that space, and we debated this situation [Creative Australia’s and the University’s decisions] in a calm and rational and thoughtful and academic way.”

Monash’ students: An open email to the Vice Chancellor

On April 2 2025, Monash’ fine arts students sent an open email with over 600 signatures to the Vice Chancellor. The current and former students were shocked at the postponement and demanded Flat earth’s reinstatement. 

Monash students’ open email to Vice Chancellor dated April 2 2025, redacted by MOJO News to remove personal details

In reply, the University affirmed its support for freedom of speech and academic freedom, while also recognising “the concurrent obligation … to foster the wellbeing of staff and students”. The letter stated the postponement was to engage in “constructive discussions with our community” and was not indefinite.  

Monash University’s reply dated April 8 2025, (redacted by MOJO News to remove personal contact details.)

The fine arts students decided to hold an event on May 8 in lieu of Flat earth’s opening. 

“We were horrified”, 'Robin' wrote in an email to MOJO News. 

“As artists, we thought we should work to our strengths,” said 'Robin' who preferred not to have their real name used.  

So the fine arts students organised a poetry reading from works by poets whose backgrounds and positions were adjacent to Sabsabi’s. 

Writer Elena Gomez agreed to appear, and the chosen poets donated works for the event. 

At 1pm on May 8, 2025, MUMA’s exhibition space was empty, but the nearby lawn outside Monash Arts Design and Architecture (MADA) was packed. Around 200 students and staff settled themselves on rugs and beanbags for one hour of readings. 

One of the organisers, 'Peta' said they were struck by the huge turnout, and the number of staff in attendance. 'Peta', not their real name, told MOJO News “[t]here were lots and lots of staff … You know, like professors and lecturers and gallery staff, MUMA gallery staff."

"I heard from some other staff members that a gathering like this has never been held in Monash, at least on the Caulfield campus.”

Several attendees commented on the sense of community they experienced according to 'Peta'. 

“It produced a feeling of solidarity both within the HDR [higher degree by research] cohort and with some undergraduate students, and with the MADA staff," they said.

"It was meaningful to look around and see so many peers gathered for the same purpose.”

What did the University’s consultation process involve?  

Dr Coates told MOJO News the University was responsible for the consultation process, but MUMA was actively involved in it. 

When asked if she encountered any opposition to the exhibition, Dr Coates said there were some people who were “worried about possible implications”.

The consultation process continued, Dr Coates said, until there were “no impediments” to the exhibition getting the green light. 

On May 22 2025, the University released a statement announcing it had “concluded its engagement process with relevant staff and students, which has enabled us to consider a range of perspectives prior to the exhibition”.

What prompted the University to reinstate Flat earth?

When asked what factors might have swayed the University to reinstate Flat earth, Dr Coates quoted the University’s online engagement figures.

“When we looked at the comms, there had been 1.5 million reads of this story internationally," she said.

"And that is probably the most that Monash University has ever been cited in not just niche media comms, but media more broadly.” 

“The focus on Monash for negative reasons rather than positive would have been pretty profound," Dr Coates said. 

"I would also imagine … that the number of letters of either concern or criticism would have been pretty phenomenal.”

Stolon Press: Putting the postponed show together

During the consultation period, Stolon Press was negotiating with the University, via MUMA, on what the artists required for the exhibition to go ahead, and discussing the postponement implications for the content with their fellow artists. 

Stolon Press had not agreed to the postponement. Melick said they felt their responsibilities keenly. “We had to protect our artists, ourselves, and the integrity of the exhibition.”  

“We were not given the show back."

"We decided to do this exhibition when the bare minimum of our conditions were met,” Melick said at Flat earth’s launch. 

The “bare minimum”, Melick later told MOJO News, involved “control over the language” the University used to describe Stolon Press’ and the artists’ stance, and “creative control over what was shown”. 

Gill said it took a lot of work to retain creative control.

“If we hadn’t had good legal representation, we would have been convinced to set aside our own artistic goals and just be satisfied that the exhibition was going ahead.” 

The postponement had affected the exhibition’s content and the artists needed time to process the impact.

“We choose to write/work through conversations and come to decisions that reflect each artist’s views and requirements equally,” Melick said.

The works presented by Stolon Press, Sabsabi and Taber in Flat earth relate to each other; their contributions intentionally overlap and complement each other. 

Ultimately, the artists decided to focus on what could be salvaged - the residue - from what they had been making for the show before it was postponed, Gill said.

Postscript

The same week Flat earth ultimately opened at MUMA, two other Melbourne galleries were also presenting works by Sabsabi. 

At West Space Gallery in Collingwood, Director Joanna Kitto said that after Monash’ postponement, “it just became really clear that we need to show that we're not afraid to present his work”. Accordingly West Space programmed several works by Sabsabi during June 2025.

Kitto said she had also noticed “how much work is being done behind the scenes” related to organisations’ processes and structures “to make sure that the boards are going to stand up for artists rather than panic.” 

“The arts world has never been more united,” Dr Coates said.

On July 2, Creative Australia announced it was reinstating Sabsabi’s and Dagostino’s Venice commissions after an external review of the decision-making process. Acting Chair, Wesley Enoch, apologised to the artists “for the hurt and pain they’ve gone through in this process”.

Monash University told MOJO News it had nothing to add to its published statement. 

Six tumultuous months: February – July 2025