Bavaria's far-right, Islamophobic government enacted its Kreuzpflicht ("cross obligation") law, which mandates that every government building must display a Christian cross, and finessed this violation of Germany's legally enforced separation of church and state by claiming the crosses were "cultural," not "religious" and by saying that each building "should hang up the cross as they think best."
Artist Darren Cullen (previously decided to take them at their word: working with The Satanic Temple, London & UK, he created a set of wall-ready crosses whose hanging hook was on the bottom edge, so that they'd hang upside down. Cullen then mailed these out to public buildings along with hanging instructions and a letter from Bavarian Minister President Markus Söder telling them they should hang it immediately as "an expression of the historical and cultural shape of the Free State."
Bavaria isn't the only place to seek to redefine crucifices as secular, cultural symbols: Quebec's infamous "religious neutrality" bill enshrines (literally) the cross in government and public settings by declaring it to be part of the province's heritage and in no way symbolic of religion.
The only alteration I made to the crosses was to place the hanging hook on the bottom edge, a small detail which would force the crucifix to be hung upside down. But that shouldn't matter, since Söder said the cross was "not a religious symbol" and Bavarian Interior Ministry spokesman Oliver Platzer said “We are happy about every cross that is hung up,” and that each state authority “should hang up the cross as they think best”.
The project was funded and assisted by The Satanic Temple, London & UK (TSTUK) as well as donations from Andrew Rowe, Thomas Finlay, Graham Darnell, Sasha Bogojev, and David Cloutman. Massive thanks to Zeke Apollyon and special thanks to the two people who helped inspire, translate, and post out this project!
KREUZPFLICHT [Darren Cullen/Spelling Mistakes Cost Lives]
