Since April 2010 the statue of Luther, dating from 1821, which was designed by Johann Gottfried Schadow and is a distinctive feature of Wittenberg’s market square has been absent from its usual place. It has been removed for conservation and restoration purposes. A year ago it was suggested that the artist Ottmar Hrlon, well known for producing communicative installations with a strong popular appeal, might be invited to create an art project on this site.

Ottmar Hrlon gained worldwide fame in 2003 with his installation of seven thousand Dürer hares on the main market square in Nuremberg. The ten thousand owls which he took to Athens for the 2004 Olympic Games, or his Wagner dogs attached to the park benches in the town of Bayreuth in the same year, are as well-known as his praying gnome or his gnome holding up his middle finger.

“Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise.” This is said to have been the closing sentence of the speech made by Martin Luther in 1521 after he had been ordered by the Imperial Diet in Worms to retract what he had written.

“Here I stand...” is symbolically transposed by the artist Ottmar Hrlon to the installation with 800 figures of Luther which he has devised for the Wittenberg market square. The figures of Luther developed for the artistic installation are based on the sculptural concept of Gottfried Schadow. His statue of Martin Luther was the first public monument in Germany to a person of non-aristocratic background. For the Wittenberg work I did not want to invent a new Luther figure, but respectfully to refer back to something that already existed. In my opinion neither Schadow’s figure nor Luther’s Theses require a new artistic interpretation. Martin Luther was aware of human fallibility. To see himself in the light of a saint or a monument would have been unthinkable for him.

Through the serial multiplication of the Luther statue I am emphasizing his role as a translator who, in his day, could not have been effective without the invention of printing. When his translation of the New Testament from Latin into German was published in 1522, three thousand copies were sold in that year, and over 200,000 within fifteen years. Truly a bestseller.

“My installation aims to make it possible once again to understand and experience the unqualified relevance and significance of the person of Martin Luther. Very much in his own spirit, as a message for all people.”

The project will be organized wholly by Ottmar Hrlon. The costs will be recouped by the sale of the installed works of art at a price of 250 euros per Luther messenger. The city of Wittenberg supports this art installation, which was initiated by the agency “Luther 2017 der EKD” .

Ottmar Hrlon: www.ottmar-hoerl.de.  Orders: www.h2sf-editions.com The opening will take place on 14 August 2010 at 3 pm