"Yallah Bye." After 16 years, artist Liad Hussein Kantorowicz is saying goodbye to Berlin. Kantorowicz is leaving as a result of the Rechtsruck (political shift to the right) and the ongoing restrictions of political and artistic freedom. And in a final irony, those restrictions are disrupting her departure.
As part of her farewell to the city, Kantorowicz was set to open aretrospective exhibition on Sunday at Pink Dot Life, a queer gallery in Prenzlauer Berg. But on Thursday, the announcement disappeared from the venue's website. Kantorowicz later got a call that her exhibition was cancelled.
The irony is that the exhibition has nothing to do with Palestine or Israel.
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