Art project "Flashmob", Wertheim & worldwide, 2020

From 19 September 2020, a spontaneous, brief appearance of cheerful, colourful sculptures will be seen in Wertheim/Main, the city where "Flashmob", Ottmar Hörl's new, participatory art project is about to start.

Specifically for this intervention, Hörl has developed the figure of the "optimist" who, holding up his thumb, frankly and without being censored, shares his likes with the rest of the world offline.

The figures are arranged in a surprising manner and consecutively, in a random sequence over a number of days and largely in dissolved structures. Anyone can rearrange the little fellows, or take them with them and shoot pictures of them in new settings.

"As in all my works with serial sculptures for public space, the aspects of the temporary and nomadic play a central role here. I have abandoned the idea of creating works for eternity. I am interested in the idea of appearing and disappearing. The work I do as a sculptor will dissolve. People are invited to participate. And everyone who comes into contact with the installation, becomes part of a communicative process." (Ottmar Hörl)

This shifting into new settings also makes the ironic and subversive character of the intervention clear – will everything really be "all right" after all, and is everything everywhere "fit to be liked"?

The images that are uploaded under the hashtags #wertheimoptimist and #ottmarhoerloptimist will show it ...

View the flyer for the installation

Link to the sculpture in our shop

Follow the travelling optimists on Instagram (#wertheimoptimist)

Follow the travelling optimists on Instagram (#ottmarhoerloptimist)