oggbashan
Dying Truth seeker
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2002
- Posts
- 56,017
A new art work depicting the countries of the European Community has been unveiled...
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090114/ten-outrage-over-eu-stereotypes-exhibiti-1dc2b55.html
An EU art work revealed as a fake has caused anger over its portrayal of national stereotypes, with Bulgaria outraged at its depiction as a squat toilet and demanding that the exhibition be halted.
"I cannot accept to see a toilet on the map of my country. This is not the face of Bulgaria," Betina Joteva, first secretary for the Bulgarian office to the EU complained.She said the Bulgarian ambassador had sent letters to the Czech EU presidency and EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana, complaining about the massive installation and demanding that it be pulled down before the official public opening of the exhibit on Thursday.
In Prague Czech sculptor David Cerny admitted on Tuesday that he had deceived EU officials with the exhibition, which is hanging in the main EU Council building in Brussels.
He had wanted to include 27 European artists but said he had failed for different reasons and decided to invent the names, working with only a small group of Czechs on the project.
"We apologise ... for our failure to tell (Czech officials) about the real state of things and for misleading them," Cerny said in a statement."We knew the truth would surface, but before that, we wanted to find out whether Europe can take a laugh at itself."
Bulgarian diplomat Joteva said "so far we have received no apology from the Czechs, we are waiting for this but first of all let's get this ugly thing down".
However an unrepentant Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told reporters in Strasbourg that he hoped the installation wasn't pulled down before he got the chance to see it.
"I hope that when I get to Brussels it is still there and I well be able to see it, so I will know what everyone is laughing at and outraged by," said Topolanek, whose country assumed the EU's rotating presidency at the start of the month.
In an invitation to the official opening, the Czech EU presidency said the deal with Cerny, famous for painting a Soviet tank pink, "clearly stipulated that the work should be a joint project of artists from the 27 EU member states."
"I was unpleasantly surprised to learn that the creator of the work of art Entropa was in fact David Cerny and that it was not made by 27 artists representing all the EU member states," Czech deputy prime minister for European affairs Alexandr Vondra said in a statement.
The main reaction when it was unveiled to reporters and diplomats on Monday in the grand foyer of the EU building was laughter.
"Stereotypes are barriers to be demolished," the Czechs explained in a statement.
In "Entropa", the map of Poland was shown with Catholic clergy erecting the rainbow flag of the gay community in the style of a famous photo of US troops raising the Stars and Stripes at Iwo Jima in World War II.
"There were mutterings" in a meeting of EU ambassadors "that there was a kind of swastika depicted on Germany," an EU diplomat said.
The map of Bulgaria is dominated by the now infamous "Turkish" squat toilet.
The map of the Netherlands is presented totally flooded with water with just the minarets of mosques visible.
Italy is transformed into a giant football pitch with players holding strategically-placed footballs.
"Grotesque exaggeration and mystification is a hallmark of Czech culture, and creating false identities is one of the strategies of contemporary art," David Cerny, the Czech artist who dreamed up the exhibit, said in a statement of the exhibition in Brussels organised by the Czech EU presidency.
The United Kingdom is represented by a blank space symbolising its reluctance to decide whether or not it is part of Europe. France has a banner right across it stating "On Strike".
Reactions have been mixed. Most workers in European institutions have thought it a good joke, even if rude about their country. Some politicians are furious.
Og
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20090114/ten-outrage-over-eu-stereotypes-exhibiti-1dc2b55.html
An EU art work revealed as a fake has caused anger over its portrayal of national stereotypes, with Bulgaria outraged at its depiction as a squat toilet and demanding that the exhibition be halted.
"I cannot accept to see a toilet on the map of my country. This is not the face of Bulgaria," Betina Joteva, first secretary for the Bulgarian office to the EU complained.She said the Bulgarian ambassador had sent letters to the Czech EU presidency and EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana, complaining about the massive installation and demanding that it be pulled down before the official public opening of the exhibit on Thursday.
In Prague Czech sculptor David Cerny admitted on Tuesday that he had deceived EU officials with the exhibition, which is hanging in the main EU Council building in Brussels.
He had wanted to include 27 European artists but said he had failed for different reasons and decided to invent the names, working with only a small group of Czechs on the project.
"We apologise ... for our failure to tell (Czech officials) about the real state of things and for misleading them," Cerny said in a statement."We knew the truth would surface, but before that, we wanted to find out whether Europe can take a laugh at itself."
Bulgarian diplomat Joteva said "so far we have received no apology from the Czechs, we are waiting for this but first of all let's get this ugly thing down".
However an unrepentant Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told reporters in Strasbourg that he hoped the installation wasn't pulled down before he got the chance to see it.
"I hope that when I get to Brussels it is still there and I well be able to see it, so I will know what everyone is laughing at and outraged by," said Topolanek, whose country assumed the EU's rotating presidency at the start of the month.
In an invitation to the official opening, the Czech EU presidency said the deal with Cerny, famous for painting a Soviet tank pink, "clearly stipulated that the work should be a joint project of artists from the 27 EU member states."
"I was unpleasantly surprised to learn that the creator of the work of art Entropa was in fact David Cerny and that it was not made by 27 artists representing all the EU member states," Czech deputy prime minister for European affairs Alexandr Vondra said in a statement.
The main reaction when it was unveiled to reporters and diplomats on Monday in the grand foyer of the EU building was laughter.
"Stereotypes are barriers to be demolished," the Czechs explained in a statement.
In "Entropa", the map of Poland was shown with Catholic clergy erecting the rainbow flag of the gay community in the style of a famous photo of US troops raising the Stars and Stripes at Iwo Jima in World War II.
"There were mutterings" in a meeting of EU ambassadors "that there was a kind of swastika depicted on Germany," an EU diplomat said.
The map of Bulgaria is dominated by the now infamous "Turkish" squat toilet.
The map of the Netherlands is presented totally flooded with water with just the minarets of mosques visible.
Italy is transformed into a giant football pitch with players holding strategically-placed footballs.
"Grotesque exaggeration and mystification is a hallmark of Czech culture, and creating false identities is one of the strategies of contemporary art," David Cerny, the Czech artist who dreamed up the exhibit, said in a statement of the exhibition in Brussels organised by the Czech EU presidency.
The United Kingdom is represented by a blank space symbolising its reluctance to decide whether or not it is part of Europe. France has a banner right across it stating "On Strike".
Reactions have been mixed. Most workers in European institutions have thought it a good joke, even if rude about their country. Some politicians are furious.
Og
