Laughter and fun came into my life this week from an unexpected quarter: the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels.

This building, a nondescript modern structure with offices and an atrium, houses the Council of the European Union. After France, the Czech Republic now holds the rotating Council presidency. To commemorate this and to illustrate its “Europe Without Barriers” motto, the Czech presidency installed a large sculptural work, Entropa, in the Justus Lipsius atrium. As the Czech presidency explains in its press release on the installation:

“Entropa is the joint work of 27 artists, each one from a different Member State. Each object depicts one Member States using common stereotypes or prejudices. The Presidency commissioned the artists without any restrictions and they were free to create any object they liked.”

The work is depicted here, on site, at its inauguration, in the presence of Czech artist David Cerny. It resembles a kit for making a model (airplane or boat), with plastic parts attached to a large frame. Entropa’s framing element is in EU blue, and each of the 27 EU Member States is depicted as a part of the model; each part reflects and pokes fun at national stereotypes.
stereotypes
When Entropa was unveiled earlier this week, Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra spoke about what made it special:

“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 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.”

Vondra’s comments hit the mark, because while some of the scultptural elements are simply funny, others seem abrasive:
  • The UK is absent, its assigned space empty;
  • France is represented by a banner reading “On Strike!”;
  • Denmark is depicted by an assembly of Lego bricks;
  • Sweden is represented by a flat Ikea box;
  • Romania is shown as amusement-park Dracula Land;
  • The Netherlands are represented by minarets poking up from a flooded plain;
  • Greece is shown to be on (forest) fire;
  • Bulgaria is represented by so-called Turkish (hole-in-the-floor) toilets.

This was reportedly too much for Bulgarian authorities, who apparently lodged a diplomatic protest with the Czechs.

There’s more to the joke, as it turns out that Entropa is not a collective work, but instead the creation of a lone Czech artist, David Cerny. Cerny not only created the sculptural elements, but also brought to life an impressive –but imaginary– band of European artists for the project. For each artist, he invented a name, insightful comments on the artwork, and a listing of shows and exhibitions. Allof this material is contained in a catalogue that, for me, rivals the sculpture in its humor and craftsmanship. Apart from having imagined art and artists, and having penned 27 national explanations (many of which are funny), Cerny also shows lots of humor towards the art world and delivers a humorous rebuke to pretentious artists.
Press reports all seem to relay the professed shock and surprise of the Czech authorities upon learning that Cerny alone created Entropa. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and am sure that no one involved seriously intended to carry out a deception, but the brief quotations above suggest to me the possibility that Czech authorities were in on the joke.
And no one seems to have commented on the pun. Entropa is a variation or inversion of “Europa”, Europe’s founding myth and an enduring source of art, but also a variation of “entropy”, a state or tendency to disorder.