Entropa

Energy and Environment Are Among Themes in Controversial European Artwork

Installing a grand artistic exhibit at European Union headquarters in Brussels has become part of a tradition for each new country taking over the E.U.’s rotating presidency.

For the next six months, it is the turn of the Czech Republic, and the display, entitled Entropa, highlights among other things the role of the energy industry and the problem of environmental degradation in a number of member states.

The huge displays suggest that Germany is dominated by its cars and autobahns, Austria by cooling towers for power plants and Hungary by nuclear know-how. Spain is a giant concrete construction site ( .. )


de James Kanter in The New York Times


Photos: James Kanter/The International Herald Tribune via The New York Times

Entropa

Czech art spoof sparks EU outrage

As if a European energy crisis and war in Gaza were not headaches enough, the Czech Republic, which took over the rotating EU presidency in January, has now been landed with a cultural debacle.

Not only has its flagship artwork – designed to demolish national stereotypes by mocking them – caused diplomatic outrage, it turns out to have been the work of a single Czech artist when it was billed as a collaborative effort from all 27 EU member states ( .. )

de Nikki Tait in Financial Times

Slideshow: Czech art hoax

Interviu David Cerny in Cafebabel.com

David Cerny: 'president Klaus is a d**k'

( .. ) In his book The Fucking Years (2003), David Cerny calculates the years he has spent as an artist into the amount of sperm he used (for those interested - 30 litres) ( .. )

interview by Natalia Sosin, Warszawa in Cafebabel.com
Photo: Lam Thuy Vo via Cafebabel.com