Berlin gallery cancels exhibition

An exhibition at Galerie Nord, Berlin, has been closed ahead of schedule following threats of violence from a group of Muslims.

The exhibition, ZOG, by a Danish duo known as Surrend, satirises religious and political extremism. It opened on 22nd February, and was due to run until 29th March. However, a group of six Muslim men threatened gallery staff with violence last week, prompting the gallery to close the exhibition early.

The men demanded the removal of one artwork from the exhibition: a poster-sized photograph of the Kaaba (Islam's holiest site, a granite cube in Mecca's Masjid Al-Haram mosque). Above the photograph of the Kaaba are the German words "Dummer Stein", meaning 'stupid stone'.

Calling the most sacred site in Islamic culture a stupid stone is, of course, offensive to any Islamic person. But if you're offended by an art exhibition there's a very easy solution: don't visit the gallery! No-one should have the right to demand the removal of 'offensive' art. If I was offended by an exhibition (unlikely, I know), then I probably wouldn't go to see it, and I certainly wouldn't interfere with other people's right to see it.

The happy irony is that, while only a small number of visitors chose to view the poster at the exhibition, potentially millions of unsuspecting people have seen it reproduced in the media following the news of the exhibition's closure.