An army of 100 male sculptures will stand watch high in the Austrian Alps for the next two years, forming a huge installation that leading British artist Antony Gormley presented Friday near Lech. The life-size iron men all stand at an altitude of 2,039 metres, nude and upright, gazing across the peaks in westernmost Austria, dpa reported. "These iron bodies are guardians," Gormley said. "They wait for our projections, for the memories, dreams and wishes of the people they encounter. In this way, these guardians celebrate the deep relationship between man and nature in the Alpine region." The identical sculptures are placed on an area covering 150 square kilometres so that they cannot be easily reached. At the same time, they are still accessible by hikers in summer and skiers in winter. Gormley's projects have put him in the media spotlight in the past. In 2007 and this year, he put up sculptures of male bodies on top of buildings in London and New York, which were mistaken by some for suicidal persons. The installation in Austria is the second high-profile international project in the country's mountains this summer. Earlier in July, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei created a monument for the victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake by placing a giant rock from the province on the Hoher Dachstein, a 2,995-metre-high peak.
