Otto I as a world shaper – a project by the Magdeburg
Youth Art School on the occasion of the awarding of the Emperor Otto Prize 2025

The Emperor Otto Cultural Foundation is dedicated to promoting art and culture. Every year, it supports small and large projects in this field. On the occasion of the awarding of the Emperor Otto Prize on 2 July 2025 to the internationally renowned artists Lisa Batiashvili and Igor Levit, the Magdeburg Youth Art School’s project ‘Otto as a World Shaper’ focused on the historical figure of Otto I.

Over a period of more than a year, intensive study and subsequent creative implementation resulted in a wide variety of art objects, which were then made accessible to the general public in Magdeburg Cathedral.

How did Emperor Otto the Great shape Europe? What influence did he have on the art of his time, and how does this art affect us today? The team at the Youth Art School, together with art educators and 190 children and young people, explored these fascinating questions about the cultural and historical figure of Otto I in three different projects. For over a year, pupils from various art classes, as well as nursery school children and young people taking part in a holiday academy, studied the historical figure of Otto the Great and brought him into the present day in all kinds of artistic ways. Together, they spent months working with their hands to create their own personal version of the future. They created their own individual vision of the future world in which they would like to live – free from war, in community, with appreciation, tolerance and respect. The resulting works range from drawings, graphics, photographs, sculptures and animated films to walk-in objects.

The intensive study of Magdeburg’s history in the Middle Ages found expression in highly individual art. The art students acquired the skills and abilities to view the world from new perspectives and to shape it according to their own ideas, while at the same time strengthening their own powers of expression. Small teams worked together creatively, networking and learning attentively from each other.

Otto the Great and me - What I always wanted to know about the emperor

Moving figures are created, the storyboard in the background

Storyboards and background scenes are created

Artist Lisa Rackwitz explains the stop-motion technique

A stop-motion film is created

In the ‘Ottos Welt’ project, the youngest artists, girls and boys from the ‘Prester’ daycare centre, immersed themselves in the history of Magdeburg. Under the guidance of Jan Focke, they discovered the life of Emperor Otto I and his wife Editha and playfully explored the life of this important Magdeburg figure and his era. Through playing, building, painting and sculpting together, the children deepened their knowledge of the city’s history and acquired new skills in various artistic techniques.

The art classes at the Magdeburg Youth Art School discovered ‘Otto I as a world shaper’ in the 2024/25 art school year in a large-scale project. Excursions to sites where interested parties can follow in the footsteps of the Ottonians, such as Magdeburg Cathedral, the Ottonianum Cathedral Museum and the Saxony-Anhalt State Archives, provided extensive basic knowledge and broadened the spectrum of knowledge of the art class students. In the studios of the youth art school, the creative minds were able to put their own ideas into practice in drawings, paintings, sculptures and even installations under the guidance of experienced art teachers. The result was over 150 works, which were exhibited in Magdeburg Cathedral from the end of June.

Under the theme Otto I. animates …!, Emperor Otto I was brought back to life in a holiday academy, the third project component, with the help of paper, scissors, paint, a little digital technology and a lot of imagination. A group of eleven young people between the ages of 11 and 17 worked at the youth art school during the Easter holiday week under the guidance of mixed media and glass artist Janette Zieger and illustrator and animator Lisa Rackwitz. ‘What would I like to ask Otto I in person?’ was the central theme, and storyboards were eagerly created. Through the interdisciplinary combination of visual and performing arts, performative elements were incorporated into the design process. The result was eleven animated short films, each with its own unique expression thanks to the individual aesthetics of each participant. In addition to the animated films with sound, imaginative dioramas were also created.

The Magdeburg Youth Art School’s art project ‘Otto I as World Shaper’ celebrated its grand opening on 24 June with a vernissage in Magdeburg Cathedral. The exhibition itself was open to the public during the regular opening hours of Magdeburg Cathedral until the beginning of August 2025.