Palestinian artists targeted in Germany ahead of major art event

Documenta organisers interpreted the ‘187’ sprayed on the walls as a reference to murder in California’s penal code, and ‘Peralta’ to Spanish neo-Nazi Isabel Peralta, who has links to the extreme right in Germany [Courtesy of documenta]

Berlin, Germany – Just a few weeks before the opening of documenta 15, one of the world’s most prestigious art events, Palestinian artist Yazan Khalili received a WhatsApp message telling him there had been a break-in at his exhibition space.

He arrived at the room in a former nightclub in Kassel, central Germany, to find the intruders had let off a fire extinguisher and spray-painted what appeared to be death threats on the walls.