Calligraphy, 300 x 200 cm
"We did not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrowed it from our children." This is the translation of the central message of this fresco – a native American wisdom that Antoine de St. Exupéry liked to quote. Like nine other artists from France, Switzerland and Italy, the renowned Parisian calligrapher Laurent Pflughaupt set off for Otzenhausen in May 2011. On the occasion of the Forum of European Calligraphy, they worked together for two days in the park of the Academy under his direction on this fresco on sustainability issues. Charles Stirnweiss, a long-standing member of the board and associate of the Academy, had actively helped to launch this project. The extremely art-loving Stirnweiss not only brought this group of artists from the "Pflughaupt School" to Otzenhausen, but also promoted sustainability issues during his time as mayor of the town of Forbach (France), near the German border, and held a professorship for sustainability at the University of Metz.

"The fresco was created intuitively, we didn't sketch it beforehand. The important thing is that there is a connection in style and content, a red thread," says Vito Garcia from Rouhling, the group's spokesman. All ten calligraphers left their handwriting on the fresco: different styles depending on the artist's focus, old fonts, swirling modern handwriting or even sweeping graffiti in the style of Urban Art. It also refers to the Academy's major educational project of the same name, "Encouraging Sustainability", which it initiated with the Forum für Verantwortung foundation and the ASKO Europa-Stiftung foundation. Today, this issue is more topical than ever. The exhibition "Links" with works of all the participating calligraphers - Stéphane Alfonsi, Alessandra Barocco, Stéphanie Devaux, Jean-Marie Dommeizel, Vito Garcia, David Lozach, Denise Luc, Cathérine Matte, Erich Meister, and Laurent Pflughaupt – added to the project.