Entropa: A European Hoax

1. Entropa David Cerný

2. As hoaxes go, this one is bound to be memorable. David Cerny, a Czech artist, admitted today that he managed to hoodwink the great and good of Brussels, and his own government, with a major artwork to mark the Czech Republic's six-month presidency of the EU. When the giant eight tonne mosaic – supposedly the work of 27 artists from each of the EU member states – was unveiled at the headquarters of the Council of Ministers this week there was laughter as Slovenia was associated with masturbation and five Lithuanian soldiers were depicted urinating on Russia.

3. . Alexandr Vondra, the Czech deputy prime minister, hailed the work, called Entropa, as the perfect illustration of his country's "A Europe without barriers" motto for its presidency. But Cerny has now admitted that he pulled off a great European hoax. When challenged by the Czech media, he said he had made up the names of the artists and that he made the mosaic with two friends. "We knew the truth would come out," the artist is quoted by Reuters as saying. "But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself." Vondra is furious. "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 in a statement. "The full responsibility for violating this assignment and this promise lies with David Cerny." The Entropa catalogue with the “creators” names of every country, made up by Cerny

4. 1. UK (empty space) Advertisement Hide ads  2. Netherlands 3. Finland 4. France 5. Sweden 6. Germany 7. Belgium 8. Czech Republic 9. Poland 10. Luxembourg 11. Slovenia 12. Bulgaria 13. Latvia 14. Italy 15. Romania 16. Slovakia 17. Estonia 18. Portugal 19. Lithuania 20. Denmark 21. Ireland 22. Hungary 23. Greece 24. Spain 25. Austria 26. Cyprus 27. Malta

5. David Cerny explains his creation “Entropa” Europe is unified by its history, culture and, in recent years, also by a jointly created political structure. More or less diverse countries are intertwined by a network of multi-dimension al relation ships that, in effect, results in an intricate whole. From with in, we tend to focus on the differences between the individual European countries. These differences include thousands of important and un important things ranging from geographical situation to gastronomy and everyday habits. The EU puzzle is both a metaphor and a celebration of this diversity. It comprises the building blocks oft he political, economic and cultural relationships with which we 'toy‘ but which will be passed on to our children. The task of today is to create building blocks with the best possible characteristics.

6. Self-reflection, critical thinking and the capacity to perceive oneself as well as the outside world with a sense of imn y are the hallmarks of European thinking. This art project that originated on the occasion of Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union attempts to present Europe as a whole from the perspectives of 27artists from the individual EU Member States. Their projects share the play fulanalys is of national stereotypes as well as original characteristics of the individual cultural identities. That much is stated in an official booklet of the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However Entropa is not a real pan-European work by artists-provocateurs, but a mystification. At first glance, it looks like a project to decorate official space, which has degenerated to an unhindered display of national traumas and complexes. Individual states in the European Union puzzle are presented by non-existent artists. They have their names, artificially created identities, and some have their own Web sites. Each of them is the author of a text explaining their motivation to take part in the common project. That all was created by David Cerny, Kristof Kintera and Tomas Pospiszyl, with the help of a large team of colleagues from the Czech Republic and abroad The United Kingdom, known for its Euroscepticism and relative isolation from Europe, is "included" as a missing piece (an empty space) at the top-left of the sculpture.

7. The original intention was indeed to ask 27 European artists for participation. But it became apparent that this plan cannot be realised, due to time, production, and financial constraints. The team therefore, without the knowledge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, decided to create fictitious artists who would represent various European national and artistic stereotypes. We apologise to Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and their departments that we did not inform them of the true state of affairs and thus misguided them. We did not want them to bear the responsibility for this kind of politically incorrect satire. We knew the truth would come out. But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself. Sweden, unlike the other pieces in the sculpture, does not have an outline, but is instead represented as a large Ikea-style self-assembly furniture box containing Gripen fighter planes (as supplied to the Czech Air Force).

8. At the beginning stood the question:  What do we really know about Europe? We have information about some states, we only know various tourist clichés about others. We know basically nothing about several of them. The art works, by artificially constructed artists from the 27 EU countries, show how difficult and fragmented Europe as a whole can seem from the perspective of the Czech Republic. We do not want to insult anybody, just point at the difficulty of communication without having the ability of being ironic.

9. Grotesque hyperbole and mystification belongs among the trademarks of Czech culture and creating false identities is one of the strategies of contemporary art.  The images of individual parts of Entropa use artistic techniques often characterized by provocation. The piece thus also lampoons the socially activist art that balances on  the verge between would-be controversial attacks on national character and un disturbing decoration of an official space. We believe that the environment of Brussels is capable of  ironic self-reflection, we believe in the sense of humour of European nations and their representatives. Belgium is presented as a box of half-eaten Praline chocolates

10. The Entropa catalogue with the “creators” names of every country, made up by Cerny

12. As hoaxes go, this one is bound to be memorable. David Cerny, a Czech artist, admitted today that he managed to hoodwink the great and good of Brussels, and his own government, with a major artwork to mark the Czech Republic's six-month presidency of the EU. When the giant eight tonne mosaic – supposedly the work of 27 artists from each of the EU member states – was unveiled at the headquarters of the Council of Ministers this week there was laughter as Slovenia was associated with masturbation and five Lithuanian soldiers were depicted urinating on Russia. Alexandr Vondra, the Czech deputy prime minister, hailed the work, called Entropa, as the perfect illustration of his country's "A Europe without barriers" motto for its presidency. But Cerny has now admitted that he pulled off a great European hoax. When challenged by the Czech media, he said he had made up the names of the artists and that he made the mosaic with two friends. "We knew the truth would come out," the artist is quoted by Reuters as saying. "But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself." Vondra is furious. "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 in a statement. "The full responsibility for violating this assignment and this promise lies with David Cerny." The Entropa sculpture on display in the hall of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2SKLSM1cw4

13. Finland is depicted as a wooden floor including a male with a rifle lying down, imagining an elephant, a hippo and a crocodile.

14. The Czech Republics own piece is an LED display, which flashes controversial quotations by Czech President Václav Klaus

15. Latvia is shown as covered with mountains, in contrast to its actual flat landscape Slovenia is shown as a rock engraved with the words "First Tourists Came Here, 1213".

16. Slovakia is depicted as a Hungarian sausage (or a human body wrapped in Hungarian tricolor).

17. Malta is depicted as a tiny island with a prehistoric dwarf elephant, as well as a magnifying glass in front of the elephant. Cyprus is cut in half

18. Estonia is presented with power tools resembling a hammer and sickle, citing the country's consideration of a ban on Communist symbols

19. AFP Never mind that most Romanians didn't even know about Dracula before communism came to an end in 1989. The rest of Europe sees Romania as little more than a vast Dracula theme park.

20. 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

21. France, on the other hand, is represented by an outline of the country with a banner reading "Grève" or "strike" hanging across it, a reference to the numerous labor battles the country tends to experience. The artist, David Cerny, told the Czech government that the piece would be created in conjunction with artists from across the EU. Instead, he did it together with a couple of his friends.

22. Hungary features an Atomium consisting of watermelons and Hungarian sausages, based on a floor of peppers.

23. Greece is depicted as a forest that has been entirely burned, possibly representing the 2007 Greek forest fires or the 2008 civil unrest in Greece.

24. Lithuania includes a series of dressed Manneken Pis-style figures urinating, with the streams of urine being illuminated by yellow glass fibres

25. Ireland is depicted as a brown bog with bagpipes protruding from Northern Ireland. The bagpipes also play music in five-minute intervals.

26. Austria, a known opponent of atomic energy, is depicted as a green field dominated by nuclear powerplant cooling towers with vapour coming out of them at intervals.

27. Germany is a series of interlocking autobahns with cars moving about on them, described as "somewhat resembling a swastika", though the statement is not universally accepted. Some Czech military historians also suggest that the autobahns resemble the number "18", which some Neo-nazi groups use as code for A.H., the initials of Adolf Hitler At first glance, it looks as though Germany got off relatively easy. The country is depicted in the sculpture, called "Entropa," as being covered with autobahns. Some observers say the autobahn pattern recalls a swastika though artist David Cerny insisted to SPIEGEL ONLINE that that was not his intention. The 16-sq-m (172-sq-ft) work portrays Germany as a network of motorways somewhat resembling a swastika.

28. Denmark is depicted as being built out of Lego bricks, and some claim to see in the depiction a face reminiscent of the cartoon controversy, though the resemblance has been denied by Černý The sculpture cost €373,000 to make and it weighs eight tons. Denmark is shown as a collection of colorful Lego blocks -- put together in such a way as to recall the infamous caricature depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.

29. This is Holland, apparently showing the coastal country flooded by ocean waters with only minarets poking above the surface, apparently a reference to the country's at times tense relations with its Muslim minority.

30. Bulgaria is particularly upset by the sculpture. The country is shown as a Turkish toilet, perhaps recalling that Bulgaria spent centuries under the Turkish yoke. Bulgaria has demanded to be removed from the sculpture.

31. The sculpture of Bulgaria on 22 January 2009 covered by black fabric

32. Tiny Luxembourg is merely a gold nugget with a giant "For Sale" sign sticking out of it.

33. Poland has a piece with priests erecting the rainbow flag of the Gay rights movement on a field of potatoes in the style of the famous photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.

34. Italy is depicted as a football pitch with several players who appear to be masturbating, possibly indicating what some see as the country's "fetish for football".

35. The model of Spain is entirely gray to represent concrete. The reference is to the enormous construction boom that dominated the Spanish economy until very recently.

36. http://vacioesformaformaesvacio. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropa https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropa https://euxtv.files.wordpress.com/ http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/photo http://www.vlada.cz/assets//entropa_ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures http://entropa.liborsvoboda.com/ http://ellipsis.bezalel.ac.il/ http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign Clarita-Efraim pps: www.clarita-efraim.com chefetz@clarita-efraim.com