The Czech EU presidency sculpture Entropa, representing 27 member states, was installed in Brussels at the headquarters of the European Council on Monday 12 January. Immediately, the artwork targeting stereotypes, traumas, clichés and phobias of each individual member state sparked controversy. Czech artist David Černý, the mastermind behind the project, at first claimed each country’s representation was the work of a local artist. However, this claim fell through even before the sculpture’s official launch on Thursday 15 January. International journalists failed to locate the 27 artists since many of the names were made up or the existing artists claimed to have never met Černý.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra apologised to all the countries when unveiling the sculpture last Thursday and said he only learnt of the prank the previous night. Černý promised to return the CZK 1.9 million that the Czech Republic paid for the project and on Wednesday signed a new contract endorsing this promise. He will also not receive the agreed CZK 1.2 million for the six month rent of the piece.
Bulgaria filed an official complaint against its depiction as a Turkish toilet. Slovakia, represented by a Hungarian salami, followed suit with a diplomatic note. Bulgaria was covered by a black cloth last Monday, while Slovakia accepted Vondra’s apology and no longer insists on removal. On Tuesday, however, the governor of the Bulgarian central bank Ivan Iskrov, threatened to boycott the planned EU meeting of finance ministers and the heads of national banks in April, unless Bulgaria is completely removed. Meanwhile, the Bulgarians initiated an online petition for the uncovering of the country. Some even write that they are ashamed of their government. Facebook currently contains 16 profiles dedicated to this artwork with the majority in support of it. Wikipedia also offers a comprehensive entry.
One of the interesting outcomes of the controversy on the Czech political scene was the surprising support of the sculpture by Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek who said Tuesday that there is no need for the Czech Republic to apologise anymore, the artist’s apology being sufficient. He nevertheless, apologised himself to the offended states. All this was in reaction to a letter written by President Václav Klaus who asked the cabinet to distance itself from the sculpture and to apologise to the states that felt offended. In an English version of the interview, published on the cabinet’s official website, Topolánek said: “Publicly my position [on the sculpture] is strongly neutral. Privately, I am laughing like anybody else.”
iDnes.cz polled a variety of Czech experts on Entropa. Most agreed that as a piece of art it does not surpass Černý’s previous concepts and therefore is in a way lacking. Some even agreed that the work is “tame”. Milan Knížák, head of the National Gallery called it a “cluttered noticeboard trying to be funny and gigantic at all costs”. Jan Skřívánek, editor-in-chief of Art+Antiques magazine, welcomed that the sculpture is bringing back the importance of art, reminding us that art should open up new topics and provoke new ways of approaching things.
Černý himself told iDnes.cz he thought he had a “European sense of humour”, and he and his collaborators claimed in a statement they wanted to find out if Europe is capable of laughing at itself.
Barbara Bindasováis a staff writer and translator at the Monitor. She
is a graduate student of literature at Charles University.
You can
reach her at [email protected]
