Unterammergau Sculpture Trail: Unknown person steals artwork
Created: 09/09/2022, 20:00
By: Tanja Brinkmann
An eye-catcher: the art installation "Please leave it, Amen" by Bruno Wank (left) and Thorsten Mühlbach.
© Dominik Bartl
The demand is clear: those responsible at the mSE Kunsthalle in Unterammergau are demanding the return of the work of art, which a brazen thief stole from the sculpture trail, within a week.
The police haven't been called in yet.
The plaque announcing the construction of a basilica with residential units is an important part of the Please Leave Amen installation.
Unterammergau -
Stunned - this word best describes the state of mind of Andreas Pawlitschko.
With a lot of commitment he and Andreas Klement, the former director of the mSE Kunsthalle in Unterammergau, created the sculpture path to the Oberammergau Vow Game.
Twelve works of art "show between the Kunsthalle and the St. Nicholas Church the great themes of the Passion, of man and religion".
Now one of them has been stolen.
On Wednesday, he and his colleagues discovered that the construction panel, a crucial part of the Please Leave Amen installation, is missing.
It all happened between morning and afternoon.
Pawlitschko, the curator of the exhibition and the Kunsthalle, was appalled that someone was so bold as to simply take them with them.
He has not yet reported the theft.
"We give the perpetrator the chance to return the board within a week," he says.
The stranger can either leave it directly at the work of art or hand it in at the reception at Weiherweg 32.
If that doesn't happen, the police will be called in.
Installation makes you think
The installation, which will be shown until the end of the Passion Play in Unterammergau, consists of transport boxes from a church facility that Bruno Wank and the artist Torsten Mühlbach originally created in 2018 for the "Ash Wednesday of Artists" in the Augsburg diocese.
"At the time, the artists used the packaging of the furnishings and the sacred objects to refer to the uncertain future of the Severin Chapel, which is located on the site of a disused prison in downtown Augsburg," explains Pawlitschko.
In the Ammertal, too, the work is a reminder of the changes in the way people live together, which can be seen in the development of the church and the conversion of church buildings as well as in the large building projects of the present.
Stolen: the plaque announcing the alleged construction of a basilica with residential units.
© Pavlichko
The stolen plaque announces the construction of a basilica with residential units on ten floors in a Mediterranean look.
The visionary project should have a budget of 90 million euros and be completed by 2025 - supervised by the statics company Angsteisen, says Pawlitschko.
"Even though such a project cannot appear serious, the construction panel caused a stir after it was erected." The municipality of Unterammergau received numerous inquiries.
As a result, "we put up the notice that the building board was part of the artwork".
An installation that makes you think and gets the viewer talking.
Cars and pedestrians kept stopping at the one-by-one-and-a-half meter board.
Artist Bruno Wank also asked the thief to return the sculpture
The wooden frame to which it was screwed has been empty since Wednesday.
Those responsible at the mSE Kunsthalle now hope that the thief will show understanding.
"Even if the material value of the building board is comparatively low, the theft cannot be dismissed as a joke," emphasizes Pawlichko.
The works of art on the sculpture trail, which is very well received, are finally insured.
"This fact alone and the general security of the works, which not only come from the company's own collection but were also provided as loans from the artists, make an advertisement unavoidable," says the curator, explaining the dilemma.
The artist also asks for the return.
The theft of a sculpture cannot end the discussion that needs to be had about the use of public space, says Wank.
“Art should stimulate discussion.
It should build bridges and – if possible – basilicas with residential units.” In Ostallgäu, where he runs the “Verpackerei Görisried” exhibition space with his wife Michaela, Wank had already set up the “Please leave it, Amen” installation in 2021, and there too with one Panel for a high-rise basilica.
Its floor plan, mowed into the lawn, had already served as an exhibition and meeting space in Corona times under the title "Holy place no kiss no touch".
The Sculpture Trail
"Passion im Tal" will be installed in Unterammergau until October.
Guided tours take place on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Further information is available online at mse-kunsthalle.de and mse-kunsthalle.de/passion-im-tal.
