SALZBURG, Austria (AP) 鈥� Visitors to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s hometown can see the composer 鈥� and his dog 鈥� in miniature as Salzburg celebrates the 270th anniversary of his birth. But they shouldn’t wait too long.
The Mozarteum Foundation on Wednesday unveiled 300 gold-colored statuettes of Mozart, which are barely 50 centimeters (less than 20 inches) tall. They were designed by German concept artist Ottmar H枚rl.
Mozart was born on Jan. 27, 1756, in the Austrian city, where the Mozarteum Foundation offers concerts, maintains Mozart museums and supports research on him.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 want to do a monument of Mozart. There are already enough of these. But I wanted to show his human side, that he was a normal human being despite his genius,鈥� H枚rl told The Associated Press.
To give the statues a human touch, H枚rl depicted the composer with his favorite dog, Pimperl. Mozart and his family were known to take long walks with their dogs in the Mirabell Garden, next to where they lived.
The mini-Mozarts populate not only the garden, but also Mozart鈥檚 former living quarters as well as several pavilions. In all, 400 statues were made, but only 300 are on display at present. The rest are being kept in reserve in case of theft.
“Two already got stolen within the last few hours,鈥� Linus Klumpner of the Mozarteum Foundation said. But the statues are meant to attract a broader range of visitors and get them hooked on Mozart鈥檚 Music.
鈥淵ou come here, maybe you see the small golden heads shimmering in the sun on the horizon. And people become curious,” Klumpner said. “And then a process begins which is very much in our interest. That is to bring new people in contact with Mozart.”
For H枚rl, the theft of his artworks in nothing new. At an installation in Bayreuth, Germany, a complete array of statues of was stolen within 10 days.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 just the nature of public space. That means when you work as an artist in a public space you mustn鈥檛 complain about what is happening there,” H枚rl said. “It ranges from destruction to theft. That鈥檚 just how it is.鈥�
The Mozart statues are scheduled to remain on display until Aug. 30. People who would like to own one but would prefer not to steal it can purchase one for 100 euros ($114) 鈥� while supplies last.
H枚rl is known for his sculptures made from polymer. In 2010 he displayed 10,000 plastic owls in Athens. A 鈥淗omage to D眉rer鈥� showcased oversized plastic copies of Albrecht D眉rer鈥檚 hare at the Daegu art museum in South Korea.
In 2009, German prosecutors decided against investigating H枚rl over a series of golden garden gnomes doing the Hitler salute, under a law that forbids using insignia forbidden by the German constitution. H枚rl himself intended the gnomes as satire against the Nazis’ ideology.
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