A new art installation going on display at the European Council building in Brussels has angered EU members with its lampoons of national stereotypes.
"Entropa" portrays Bulgaria as a toilet, Romania as a Dracula theme-park and France as a country on strike. The Netherlands is shown as series of minarets submerged by a flood - a possible reference to the nation's simmering religious tensions. Germany is shown as a network of motorways vaguely resembling a swastika, while the UK - criticised by some for being one of EU's most eurosceptic members - is absent from Europe altogether. The Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, thought it had commissioned work from 27 European artists. But it turned out to have been entirely completed by Czech artist David Cerny and two associates.
The giant mosaic is held together by snap-out plastic parts similar to those used in modelling kits. Cerny's 172-square-foot work was installed at the weekend to mark the start of the six-month Czech presidency of the EU. Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra said he was only informed on Monday that the installation was not the work of 27 European artists as originally intended, but by Cerny and accomplices. Vondra condemned Mr Cerny and said the Czech EU presidency was considering what steps to take before Thursday's official launch.
"An agreement of the office of the government with the artist clearly stated that this will be a common work of artists from 27 EU states," he said. "The full responsibility for violating this assignment and this promise lies with David Cerny." The artist, who presented Entropa to his government with a brochure describing each of the artwork's 27 supposed contributors from each member state, has apologised for misleading ministers, but not for the installation itself.
"We knew the truth would come out," said Mr Cerny. "But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself." He added that Entropa "lampoons the socially activist art that balances on the verge between would-be controversial attacks on national character and undisturbing decoration of an official space". The sculpture is meant as an ironic jab at the issue of European integration and the stereotypes associated with each country. It is subtitled "Stereotypes are barriers to be demolished", in accord with the Czech European Union Presidency motto of Europe without barriers.
Here's a list of all the depictions:
Austria, a known opponent of atomic energy, is a green field dominated by nuclear power plant cooling towers
Belgium is presented as a half-full box of half-eaten Praline chocolates
Bulgaria is depicted by a series of connected "Turkish" squat toilets
Cyprus is jigsawed (cut) in half
The Czech Republic's own piece is an LED display, which flashes controversial quotations by Czech President Václav Klaus
Denmark is a face depicted in Lego bricks, reminiscent of the cartoon controversy
Estonia is presented with a hammer and sickle-styled power tools, the country has considered a ban on Communist symbols
Finland is depicted as a wooden floor and an [apparently drunk] male with a rifle, imagining various animals
France is draped in a "GRÈVE!" ("STRIKE!") banner
Germany is a series of interlocking autobahns, described as "somewhat resembling a swastika", though that is not universally accepted. The cars move along the roads
Greece is depicted as a forest that is entirely burned, possibly representing the 2007 Greek forest fires and the 2008 civil unrest in Greece
Hungary features an Atomium made of its common agricultural products melons and Hungarian sausages, based on a floor of peppers
Ireland is depicted as a brown bog with bagpipes protruding from Northern Ireland; the bagpipes play music every five minutes
Italy is depicted as a football pitch with the players holding balls in the "strategic position"
Latvia is shown as covered with mountains, in contrast to its actual flat landscape
Lithuanian soldiers are depicted urinating on Russia
Luxembourg is displayed as a gold nugget with "For Sale" tag
Malta is a tiny island with its prehistoric dwarf elephant as its only decoration
The Netherlands has disappeared under the sea with only a several minarets still visible; the piece is supposed to emit the singing of muezzins
Poland has a piece with priests erecting the rainbow flag of the Gay rights movement, in the style of the U.S. soldiers raising the Stars and Stripes at Iwo Jima
Portugal is shown as a wooden cutting board with three pieces of meat in the shape of its former colonies of Brazil, Angola, and Mozambique
Romania is a Dracula-style theme park
Slovakia is depicted as a Hungarian sausage (or a human body tighten by Hungarian tricolour)
Slovenia is shown as a rock engraved with the words first tourists came here 1213
Spain is covered entirely in concrete, with a concrete mixer situated near the Basque country
Sweden does not have an outline, but is represented as a large Ikea-style self-assembly furniture box, containing Gripen fighter planes
The United Kingdom, known for its Euroscepticism and relative isolation from the Continent, is "included" as missing piece (an empty space) at the top-left of the work
"Entropa" portrays Bulgaria as a toilet, Romania as a Dracula theme-park and France as a country on strike. The Netherlands is shown as series of minarets submerged by a flood - a possible reference to the nation's simmering religious tensions. Germany is shown as a network of motorways vaguely resembling a swastika, while the UK - criticised by some for being one of EU's most eurosceptic members - is absent from Europe altogether. The Czech Republic, which currently holds the EU presidency, thought it had commissioned work from 27 European artists. But it turned out to have been entirely completed by Czech artist David Cerny and two associates.The giant mosaic is held together by snap-out plastic parts similar to those used in modelling kits. Cerny's 172-square-foot work was installed at the weekend to mark the start of the six-month Czech presidency of the EU. Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra said he was only informed on Monday that the installation was not the work of 27 European artists as originally intended, but by Cerny and accomplices. Vondra condemned Mr Cerny and said the Czech EU presidency was considering what steps to take before Thursday's official launch.
"An agreement of the office of the government with the artist clearly stated that this will be a common work of artists from 27 EU states," he said. "The full responsibility for violating this assignment and this promise lies with David Cerny." The artist, who presented Entropa to his government with a brochure describing each of the artwork's 27 supposed contributors from each member state, has apologised for misleading ministers, but not for the installation itself.
"We knew the truth would come out," said Mr Cerny. "But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself." He added that Entropa "lampoons the socially activist art that balances on the verge between would-be controversial attacks on national character and undisturbing decoration of an official space". The sculpture is meant as an ironic jab at the issue of European integration and the stereotypes associated with each country. It is subtitled "Stereotypes are barriers to be demolished", in accord with the Czech European Union Presidency motto of Europe without barriers.
Here's a list of all the depictions:
Austria, a known opponent of atomic energy, is a green field dominated by nuclear power plant cooling towers
Belgium is presented as a half-full box of half-eaten Praline chocolatesBulgaria is depicted by a series of connected "Turkish" squat toilets
Cyprus is jigsawed (cut) in half
The Czech Republic's own piece is an LED display, which flashes controversial quotations by Czech President Václav Klaus
Denmark is a face depicted in Lego bricks, reminiscent of the cartoon controversy
Estonia is presented with a hammer and sickle-styled power tools, the country has considered a ban on Communist symbols
Finland is depicted as a wooden floor and an [apparently drunk] male with a rifle, imagining various animals
France is draped in a "GRÈVE!" ("STRIKE!") banner
Germany is a series of interlocking autobahns, described as "somewhat resembling a swastika", though that is not universally accepted. The cars move along the roads
Greece is depicted as a forest that is entirely burned, possibly representing the 2007 Greek forest fires and the 2008 civil unrest in Greece
Hungary features an Atomium made of its common agricultural products melons and Hungarian sausages, based on a floor of peppers
Ireland is depicted as a brown bog with bagpipes protruding from Northern Ireland; the bagpipes play music every five minutes
Italy is depicted as a football pitch with the players holding balls in the "strategic position"
Latvia is shown as covered with mountains, in contrast to its actual flat landscape
Lithuanian soldiers are depicted urinating on Russia
Luxembourg is displayed as a gold nugget with "For Sale" tag
Malta is a tiny island with its prehistoric dwarf elephant as its only decoration
The Netherlands has disappeared under the sea with only a several minarets still visible; the piece is supposed to emit the singing of muezzins
Poland has a piece with priests erecting the rainbow flag of the Gay rights movement, in the style of the U.S. soldiers raising the Stars and Stripes at Iwo JimaPortugal is shown as a wooden cutting board with three pieces of meat in the shape of its former colonies of Brazil, Angola, and Mozambique
Romania is a Dracula-style theme park
Slovakia is depicted as a Hungarian sausage (or a human body tighten by Hungarian tricolour)
Slovenia is shown as a rock engraved with the words first tourists came here 1213
Spain is covered entirely in concrete, with a concrete mixer situated near the Basque country
Sweden does not have an outline, but is represented as a large Ikea-style self-assembly furniture box, containing Gripen fighter planes
The United Kingdom, known for its Euroscepticism and relative isolation from the Continent, is "included" as missing piece (an empty space) at the top-left of the work
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