They call this ART??

A real gem of a story emerged yesterday regarding the Czech Republic’s celebration of its Presidency of the EU. The Czech Government had commission a work of art to celebrate its historic first turn ‘in charge’ of the EU, as it takes the reins of the EU Presidency for the next 6 months.

According to The Times £350,000 in funding has been given to this project, in part earmarked to pay the 27 different artists, each from the 27 EU Member States. These artists were meant to create a map of Europe showing what each country really feels about its place in Europe. However, the Czech presidency website states it is renting the artwork at a cost of €50,000 for the six months of their presidency.

Eyebrows were raised when the artwork ‘Entropa’ (all eight-tonnes of it) first appeared in the Council Building, most notably because the UK no longer appeared on the map, but it was only after Bulgaria (depicted as a Turkish lavatory) complained that the truth has been revealed.

It transpires that the organiser of the project, artist David Cerny, designed and created the whole thing himself and invented the names of the ‘up-and-coming’ artists who were meant to be responsible for the representation of their respective countries.

Mr Cerny had apparently described the UK’s omission from the map as resulting from the fact that Britain did not want to be part of Europe, and he has depicted France by covering it in a banner with one word placed upon it - ‘Strike!’

Nigel Farage, the leader of the UK Independence Party, said: It's wonderful, terrific: the designers are obviously forward planners because they recognise the fact that Britain will not continue to be part of this political union.

Whatever you might think about the art it is certainly symbolic of the EU’s attitude towards money!