Vienna, Aug. 12 (dpa/GNA) – A public exhibition by German artist Ottmar Hörl, featuring a total of 320 gold-coloured Mozart figures, has ended early after a mass theft.
The International Mozarteum Foundation said on Wednesday that 210 of the objects disappeared from Salzburg’s Mirabell Gardens.
“The worst thing for an artist is when his work vanishes,” Hörl told dpa.
He said he was also bothered by the lack of respect for his work.
The small sculptures were installed in mid-July, including in Salzburg’s Mirabell Gardens, a tourist hotspot, to mark the 270th birthday of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The exhibition was organised in cooperation with the Mozarteum Foundation.
Hörl said he did not assume holidaymakers had taken the 50-centimetre-tall Mozarts.
“This is organised theft,” the artist said. The plastic figures were likely stolen at night from the public park when the Mirabell Gardens are locked.
“I find it a bit cheeky,” he said. But it wasn’t a million-euro heist.
Hörl said he would have sold the mini Mozarts for €90 ($104) each after the end of the exhibition, meaning his total losses are around €20,000.
Because the manufacturer of the sculptures is on holiday, replacement Mozart figures cannot be installed.
A few dozen can still be viewed until the end of August at the Mozarteum and at Mozart’s birthplace in Salzburg.
Hörl’s Wagner figures disappeared in Bayreuth. Hörl is known for his installations featuring mass-produced figures of famous personalities.
He installed small armies of Schillers, Goethes and Hölderlins in German cities.
There was also an incident like the one in Salzburg. During a campaign in Bayreuth, 100 figures of composer Richard Wagner were stolen.
GNA