Sculpture project next to the Staatsbrücke, Salzburg

In “Spirit of Mozart,” the performance and video artist Marina Abramovic presents an “interactive sculpture” consisting of an ensemble of chairs occupying and extending into space. An enormous, fifteen-metre-high chair is surrounded by eight further ones which passersby are invited to use. The stainless-steel installation represents an invitation and a challenge, to sit quietly and contemplate – and this in a place that is pulsating with activity.

The artist has immersed herself in Salzburg and its history. Here is her own description of what inspired her work: “I wanted to create a place of contemplation and devote it to the spirit of Mozart right in the heart of Salzburg, in the midst of traffic and the hectic, pulsating bustle of the city. Religion plays a very important role in this city. But for the Salzburgers, music was the means to express their emotions. Even today, everybody in the world still associates Salzburg with music: Mozart.