David Černý Revisited

We took an overnight trip out to western Bohemia on Friday and returned on Saturday via Plzeň.

Entropa, 2009. Lower right quadrant.

I really wanted to see David Černý's Entropa.

Entropa, 2009. Upper right quadrant.

I mentioned Entropa and the controversy it ignited in the European Union in the previous post, noting that it's now on display (permanent, as it happens) at Techmania, a science discovery center in the town that gave us the pilsner. The New York Times covered the EU scandal back in 2009 (and their pictures are a lot clearer than mine).

Entropa, 2009. Upper left quadrant.

The sculpture's name is a play on "Evropa" (the Czech word for Europe) and "entropy," meaning disorder.

Entropa, 2009. Lower left quadrant.

I had no idea it would be so huge. Entropa weighs eight tons and measures 16.5m x 16.5m (a little more than 54ft x 54ft). The only space large enough to accommodate it at Techmania -- not a small facility -- is the unreconstructed space at the back of the center.

It is viewed from three windows which front it. At the middle window is a computer which allows interaction with the sculpture. On the computer screen, you can touch either the name of one of the 27 EU countries represented or touch an image of a country depicted. The country name and matching image are then highlighted and shown along with a brief description of the interpretation in Černýs sculpture.

Romania -- a Dracula-based theme park

Denmark -- where Legos were invented. And where political cartoonists sometimes get in hot water for un-PC depictions of Mohammed.

United Kingdom -- or rather, not. As one of the most euro-sceptic EU members, the UK was identified as an empty space.

Sweden -- an IKEA package containing a Gripen fighter plane. In 2001 Sweden allegedly tried to bribe Czech officials into purchasing a fleet of Gripens for the Czech Air Force.

Bulgaria -- land of Turkish (or squat) toilets

This one really pissed off the Bulgarians. So to speak.

Poland -- a group of Catholic priests stabilize a rainbow, Gay-pride flag, Iwo Jima-style.

Below is a key to countries' depictions, from Wikipedia's Entropa entry. (Links are available there to help explain the source of each country's depicted stereotype/characteristic, should you need them. I know I did.)

• Austria, a known opponent of atomic energy, is a green field dominated by nuclear power plant cooling towers; vapour comes out of them at intervals
• Belgium is presented as a half-full box of half-eaten Praline chocolates
• Bulgaria is depicted by a series of connected "Turkish" squat toilets; neon-like lights connect and illuminate them (later hidden with fabric)
• Cyprus is jigsawed (cut) in half
• The Czech Republic's own piece is an LED display, which flashes controversial quotations by Czech President Václav Klaus
• Denmark is built of Lego bricks, and some claim to see in the depiction a face reminiscent of the cartoon controversy, though any resemblance has been denied by the artist
• Estonia is presented with a hammer and sickle-styled power tools, the country has considered a ban on Communist symbols
• Finland is depicted as a wooden floor and a male with a rifle lying down, imagining an elephant and a hippo.
• France is draped in a "GRÈVE!" ("STRIKE!") banner
• Germany is a series of interlocking autobahns, described as "somewhat resembling a swastika", though that is not universally accepted; some Czech military historians also suggest that the autobahns resemble the number "18", which some Neonazi groups use as code for A.H. initials. Cars move along the roads.
• Greece is depicted as a forest that is entirely burned, possibly representing the 2007 Greek forest fires and the 2008 civil unrest in Greece.
• Hungary features an Atomium made of its common agricultural products watermelons and Hungarian sausages, based on a floor of peppers
• Ireland is depicted as a brown bog with bagpipes protruding from Northern Ireland; the bagpipes play music every five minutes
• Italy is depicted as a football pitch with several players who appear to be masturbating with the footballs they each hold.
• Latvia is shown as covered with mountains, in contrast to its actual flat landscape
• Lithuania is a series of dressed Manneken Pis-style figures urinating; the streams of urine are presented by a yellow lighting glass fibers
• Luxembourg is displayed as a gold nugget with "For Sale" tag
• Malta is a tiny island with its prehistoric dwarf elephant as its only decoration; there's a magnifying glass in front of the elephant
• The Netherlands has disappeared under the sea with only several minarets still visible; the piece is supposed to emit the singing of muezzins
• Poland has a piece with priests erecting the rainbow flag of the Gay rights movement on a field of potatoes (Poland's main agricultural product), in the style of the U.S. Marines raising the Stars and Stripes at Iwo Jima.
• 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
• Romania is a Dracula-style theme park, which is set up to blink and emit ghostly sounds at intervals.
• Slovakia is depicted as a Hungarian sausage (or a human body wrapped in Hungarian tricolor)
• Slovenia is shown as a rock engraved with the words first tourists came here 1213
• Spain is covered entirely in concrete, with a concrete mixer situated in the northeast
• Sweden does not have an outline, but is represented as a large IKEA-style self-assembly furniture box, containing Gripen fighter planes (as supplied to the Czech Air Force)

The Telegraph (from the UK) published an article, "Europe needs the 'shocking' Czechs," after Entropa was unveiled but four days before the authorship fraud was revealed. The Telegraph article includes a link to a pdf of the official brochure that accompanied the sculpture, which includes bios of the "various artists" that contributed to the piece and their esoteric blurbs about each image. In reality, Černý and a couple of buddies did it all themselves.

But everyone from EU and Czech officials to the author of the article, Bruno Waterfield, fell for the deception. From the article:

Alexandr Vondra, the Czech Deputy Prime Minister, said, in a statement: “Sculpture, and art more generally, can speak where words fail. In line with the Czech Presidency motto a ‘Europe without Barriers’, we gave the 27 artists the same opportunity to express themselves freely, as a proof that in today’s Europe there is no place for censorship. In return we got an uncommon, yet common piece of art. I am confident in Europe’s open mind and capacity to appreciate such a project.”

Waterfield concludes by saying,

It is not really my cup of tea as art but the Czechs should be praised for trying to stir things up in a town where everyone tries to keep things behind closed doors.

As a Czech just told me: “We decided we preferred a piece of work by independent artists rather a euro decoration designed by a committee.”

Good luck to them.

From Wikipedia ~

Černý offered an apology to Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra, and the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Karel Schwarzenberg "and their offices" for deceiving them, stating he did not want them to be responsible for his fabulations. The statement went on to point out: "We knew the truth would come out. But before that we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself."

That David Černý.

(To see Černý and some of Entropa in action, check out this YouTube video. Enjoy!)