Salzburg Mozart installation curtailed after mass theft of 210 figures
The Mozarteum Foundation confirms significant losses from the 270th anniversary tribute, with artist Ottmar Hörl describing the disappearance of the polymer sculptures as organised theft.
Organisers of a major public art installation in Salzburg have been forced to terminate the Mirabell Garden display ahead of schedule following the disappearance of 210 gold-coloured polymer figures. The theft has disrupted the exhibition commemorating the 270th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s birth, with the Mozarteum Foundation confirming that two-thirds of the installed sculptures had vanished from the site.
The installation, created by German conceptual artist Ottmar Hörl, featured 320 identical figures depicting the composer alongside his dog, Pimperl. The works were positioned across the Mirabell Garden and various Mozart-related locations throughout Austria’s fourth-largest city. Hörl designed the display to portray Mozart as a normal human being rather than a distant monument, utilising his signature style of mass-produced identical figures to represent famous personalities.
Hörl has described the incident as organised theft, suggesting the figures were removed at night after the garden had closed to the public. He dismissed the possibility that individual tourists had simply taken the 50-centimetre sculptures, noting the logistical impossibility of such an act without detection. The artist expressed frustration at the loss, stating that the dissolution of his work was the worst outcome for an artist, though he acknowledged that operating in public space inherently carries risks of destruction and theft.
The financial implications of the theft are estimated at approximately €20,000, based on Hörl’s planned post-exhibition sale price of €90 per figure. The Mozarteum Foundation had kept replacement figures in reserve, but the scale of the disappearance meant these were insufficient to restore the installation. Furthermore, the manufacturer is currently on summer holiday, preventing any immediate production of new units to fill the gap.
While the Mirabell Garden display has ended, several dozen figures remain on view at the Mozarteum and Mozart’s birthplace until the end of August. This incident echoes a previous event in Bayreuth, where 100 figures from a Hörl installation depicting Richard Wagner also disappeared. The exact identity of the perpetrators remains unknown, and no official method of removal has been confirmed beyond the artist’s assessment.
