Czech Art Called Objectionable

(Brussels, Belgium) A Czech art display at the European Council Building in Brussels was created to commemorate the start of the six-month Czech presidency of the European Union.

Designed and constructed by controversial Czech artist David Cerny, the art has shocked, surprised and insulted onlookers.

In particular, citizens of the nation of Bulgaria are outraged that their country is depicted as a toilet.

"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.

The Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Alexandr Vondra, apologized for the insult to Bulgaria and the offensive section was covered with a black cloth. Logically, Bulgaria should now commission a work which depicts the Czech Republic as the head of a penis.

Frankly, I think it's more telling that the UK wasn't included as part of Europe. The hint could be that Eastern Europeans don't see the UK as one of them.