Twenty-eight artists participating in the 19th Biennale of Sydney published an open letter to the Biennale's board on February 19, 2014, objecting to the exhibition's sponsorship links with Transfield. The artists argued that Transfield Holdings' connection to Transfield Services, a company contracted for Australian offshore detention centers, compromised the Biennale's ethical position. The letter asked the Biennale to withdraw from its current sponsorship arrangements and seek alternatives. Its signatories included Gabrielle de Vietri, Libia Castro, Olafur Olafsson, Angelica Mesiti, Ahmet Ogut, Nathan Coley, Martin Boyce, Emily Roysdon, and others. The intervention became a prominent case of artists using participation in a major international exhibition to contest institutional funding structures.
The campaign led to withdrawals, widened debate about arts sponsorship ethics, and preceded the Biennale board's decision to cut ties with Transfield.