Posted on 05/04/2013 1:07:43 AM PDT by Olog-hai
Political artist Ottmar Hörl captured headlines far away from his hometown of Nuremberg in 2009 when he created garden gnomes performing Nazi salutes. And now hes back to making what he hopes will be another controversial statement. In honor of Karl Marxs 195th birthday, Hörl has spread out 500 plastic figurines of the famous thinker in Trier, the western German city near the border with Luxembourg where Marx was born.
I want to inspire pedestrians to think about Karl Marx in a different way, Hörl explains while his installation is being set up next to Triers historic Roman city gate, Porta Nigra, adding that the German philosopher has often been misinterpreted.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
“Philosopher” sounds so innocuous.
If he really is looking for notoriety, he should try 500 plastic Mohammeds.
Gnomes do kind of represent the authoritarian mindset. They are either stern father figures, or subservient lackeys.
Gnomes as Nazi commanders, or as rigid, inflexible ideologues, need only change costumes.
There is a certain notoriety in being murdered on the street and having a note pinned to your chest with a dagger.
But it is not one I would recommend.
There are analyses on the web that show the Smurf Village to be a model Communist utopia.
“I want to inspire pedestrians to think about Karl Marx in a different way,
How about Marx as a dirty little man painted with blood standing in dirt and surrounded by piles of garden manure? Or is that too offensive to the idea of the thing that is a garden?
“Fred! This morning you need to go out and de-gnome the garden!”
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