Recently the Scrapbook reported the following:
To mark the Czech Republic's turn at the rotating European Union presidency, artist David Cerny told officials in Prague he and other artists from the EU would create a sculpture of Europe, in which individual countries would be represented by national symbols of pride. Or something like that. In reality, Cerny and a few of his friends made "Entropa," which is currently on display in Brussels. And it may result in the dissolution of Europe.
While Italy is rendered lovingly as a nation of soccer fanatics, Belgium as a box of chocolates, and Sweden as an IKEA box, Bulgaria is, well, a Turkish toilet (see photo below). One Bulgarian diplomat was flush with anger, describing it (to euobserver.com) as "preposterous, a disgrace," and "a humiliation for the Bulgarian nation and an offence to national dignity." But as Cerny explained to Spiegel Online, "No other [European] country has those kinds of toilets." Germany is represented by a mass of cars on highway strips--that look suspiciously like a misshapen swastika. (Cerny denies this vehemently.) All of Holland, meanwhile, is submerged in water, save the minarets of mosques. France is dominated by a giant sign yelling "Strike!" And Luxembourg is so tiny it simply dangles a pricetag.
THE SCRAPBOOK hopes these countries will develop a sense of humor. After all, it could be worse. Imagine being depicted as a Dracula-themed amusement park. That would be Romania.
But an Austrian diplomat informed me today that Italy, in fact, does not escape unscathed: "You have to see the players in motion," he subtly explained. You can pretty much get the gist from the image provided by Der Spiegel. Now that is an infamnia.
