Artist’s trickery leaves Czechs embarrassed

IRELAND has been portrayed as a furry brown set of bagpipes, Bulgaria as a Turkish squat toilet, Belgium as a box of chocolates and Luxembourg as a gold bar.

It was meant to be the Czechs’ gift to the EU for their six months’ presidency but a decision by the Czech government to commission conceptual artist David Cerny to enlist an artist from each of the 27 countries to portray their country using stereotypes or popular prejudices has backfired badly.

With several of the countries portrayed less than amused, the Czech government discovered the artist in charge of the project had tricked them.

Suspicions were aroused when the artists, named and quoted in a glossy book to go with the exhibit, could not be located.

The artist was forced to blow his cover and reveal he and some friends devised and built the entire structure of the illustrated country cutouts affixed to a frame.

In a statement he explained: “Grotesque exaggeration and mystification are signs of Czech culture and the creation of false identities is one of the strategies of current arts.”

He added he knew his subterfuge would be discovered but he wanted to see if Europe would be capable of laughing at itself.

The Bulgarians, for one, proved they were not and have demanded an apology and the removal of the squat toilet from their country’s shape.

Embarrassed Czech Europe minister, Alexandr Vondra, said he was unpleasantly surprised to learn that the creator of the entire work was the Czech artist, contrary to their contract, which was to involve artists from all 27 countries.

“David Cerny bears full responsibility and we are considering what steps to take,” he said.

The €50,000 installation is due to be officially unveiled tomorrow in the council building where the member states’ ministers meet.

Czech officials were last night trying to decide what to do next, especially as they have received a lot of very positive comments about the project.