Bulgaria Covered with Black Cloth on Czech Insulting Art Piece "Entropa"

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | January 20, 2009, Tuesday // 00:00
Bulgaria: Bulgaria Covered with Black Cloth on Czech Insulting Art Piece "Entropa" The Czech Presidency of the European Union has covered Tuesday the map of Bulgaria, depicted as a squad toilet as part of the infamous "Entropa" exhibit, with a black cloth. Photo by DarikNews

The Czech Presidency of the European Union has covered Tuesday the map of Bulgaria, depicted as a squad toilet as part of the infamous "Entropa" exhibit, with a black cloth.

The step has been taken after Bulgaria's permanent Representation at the European Institutions has issued an official objection to the work, displayed at the European Council building in Brussels.

Last week, the Deputy Prime minister of the Czech Republic, Alexandr Vondra, has apologized for the insult inflicted on Bulgaria.

"I apologize to Bulgaria and its Cabinet if they feel insulted and I believe we are ready to initiate a constructive dialogue," he said.

The author of the exhibit, David Cerny has also stated that he was ready to remove the insulting pieces, and said he would return the money he has received for the creation of the display.

The Czech Republic, which now holds the EU presidency, has commissioned the 16-square-meter display to mark the start of the six-month Czech presidency of the EU, but they believed it was the work of 27 European artists.

The exhibit named "Entropa" was installed during the last weekend and has angered EU members with its form of a giant jigsaw map representing the "stereotypes" of each of the EU's 27.

"Entropa" portrays Bulgaria as a squad toilet, Romania as a Dracula theme-park, France is covered with the inscription "Strike!," Sweden looks like an IKEA box, the Netherlands is shown as series of minarets submerged by a flood, Germany is a network of motorways vaguely resembling a swastika, Spain is depicted entirely covered with concrete, Italy looks like a giant football stadium while the UK is absent from Europe altogether.

David Cerny has often been called the "enfant terrible" of the Czech art world and his commissioning by the Czech government to create the installation, raised quite a few eyebrows. In the early 1990s he made another stir when he painted a Soviet tank, a Second World War memorial in a Prague square, bright pink.

Cerny has presented "Entropa" to his government with a brochure describing each of the artworks of the 27 supposed contributors from each member state. The artist has already apologized for misleading Czech ministers, but not for the installation itself.

"We knew the truth would come out. But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself," Cerny has said.

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