Germany: Exhibit closed after threats over Mecca photo




We read:

"An exhibition by Danish artists in Berlin has been closed due to threats received over a photo deemed to be offensive to Muslims, organisers said.

The exhibition, which opened in central Berlin on February 22, has been closed to ensure the safety of staff and visitors, Ralf Hartmann from the artists' collective Kunstverein Tiergarten said today.

The show by Danish collective Surrend is aimed at depicting what they say is the absurdity of extremism in all religions. One of the 21 photos is of the Kaaba - the cube-shaped building inside the Grande Mosque in Mecca - with the inscription describing the stone as "stupid".

Source

The Kaaba is a cube-shaped building (hence our word "cube"), not a stone -- but the inscription on the artwork is "Dummer Stein", which means "stupid stone". The Kaaba is the holiest part of Mecca, although it was originally a pagan (pre-Islamic) building. It originally housed a collection of idols.

Note that the antisemitic picture -- implying that America is controlled by Jews -- seems to have got a pass.

I am slightly amused that a German site called Freunde der offnen Gesellschaft ("Friends of the open society") that discusses this issue manages to do so without reproducing the picture concerned. They just have a stick-man drawing instead. It seems that they are not TOO friendly to the open society. "Open society" is a George Soros catchword, of course. It would be nice if he believed in it.

(Yes. I know Soros borrowed the term off Karl Popper)


Posted by John Ray.