The installation was placed in the famous Mirabell Garden and dedicated to the 270th anniversary of the composer's birth. According to the Mozarteum Foundation, the organizers had several spare figures, but they were not enough to compensate for such a large loss. The project author is German artist Ottmar Hörl, known for installations made of hundreds or even thousands of identical figures of famous people. The Mozart sculptures, about 50 centimeters tall, are made of polymer and covered with golden paint. The composer is depicted with his dog Pimperl. According to Hörl, he wanted to show Mozart not only as a great musical genius and historical figure but also as an ordinary person who once lived in Salzburg. The artist doubts that numerous figurines were gradually taken by tourists as souvenirs. In his opinion, it is more likely to be an organized theft: a large number of figures probably disappeared at night when the garden was closed to visitors. Initially, after the exhibition ended, the figurines were planned to be sold for about 90 euros each. Thus, the value of the 210 missing figures amounts to approximately 19,000 euros. Some of the remaining sculptures will continue to be displayed at the Mozarteum Foundation and the house where Mozart was born until the end of August. For Ottmar Hörl, this is not the first case of mass disappearance of works from an open exhibition. Earlier, around one hundred figures of composer Richard Wagner created by him were stolen in Bayreuth, Germany. The artist himself acknowledges that public installations are inevitably associated with risk: works in open spaces are much harder to protect from damage, vandalism, and theft.
