‘Passion 2020’: Small-Sculpture Competition

Every 10 years more than 2,000 residents of Oberammergau re-enact the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the stage of the Passion Play Theatre. Most of them perform as part of the general populace and wear similar costumes. Symbolically, a section of the Oberammergau Museum building will be ‘cloaked’ in a cube-like structure, either made of or citing such robes from previous performances of the Passion Play that can no longer be used. This cube will be echoed within the museum itself. Inside the cube (in the museum) certain showcases and objects will be covered and only selected exhibits/small-sculptural works on the subject of the Passion displayed. In this way, the objects will be rid of any associations with mass production. Paper is to be used to conceal and alienate the works – paper being an intermediate stage between cloth and wood – the material from which most of the exhibits are made. On entering or leaving the cube the visitor passes lengths of material from costumes worn by the general populace and, for a brief moment, he or she becomes an integral part of the collective history of the village.

People live and work, and experience joy and suffering together and through interaction with one another. Nevertheless, everyone strives to maintain his or her own individuality. Life’s journey from birth until death is unavoidably marked by one’s own suffering, the suffering of others and that of nature.

Within this context small sculptural works of art will be shown that relate to the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ while, at the same time, questioning the notion of individual identity.

“Terms and conditions for participation” can be collected personally from the museum or requested by e-mail under: museum@gemeinde-oberammergau.de