MaltaMedia.com

Malta was portrayed as a dwarf elephant in the satirical work Entropa by the Czech artist David Cerny that has stirred controversy among the different EU member states.

David Cerny, already notorious for his provocative works which in the past have included a pink Soviet tank and a dismembered Jesus Christ in plastic foil, was asked by the Czech Presidency to produce a giant installation to be placed in the EU Council Building.

The Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, thought it had commissioned work from 27 European artists, the BBC said.

Instead, Cerny went ahead on his own; and with the help of two friends created a 16-square-metre map of Europe, with each country represented with a stereotype.

Cerny went as far as inventing the names of 26 other artists, including a Maltese artist, to the commission in charge of the project. Entropa was also accompanied with an official publication.

Alexander Caruana, the bogus Maltese artist, chose to depict Malta as a dwarf elephant saying that ‘for some people, its [Malta] size may be the cause of mirth. What, then, would they make of our most famous animal, which nobody had ever actually seen: the dwarf elephant, a creature almost too small to miss.’

Indeed, many found the work as offensive. Among them Bulgaria which, portrayed as a Turkish toilet, was clearly the most outraged by the work. In response, the Czech presidency apologized to Bulgaria offering to remove the image.

A clearly embarrassed Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr said that ‘an agreement of the office of the government with the artist clearly stated that this will be a common work of artists from 27 EU states,’ adding that ‘the full responsibility for violating this assignment and this promise lies with David Cerny’ the BBC reported.

David Cerny has apologized for misleading the ministers and in his defence said ‘we wanted to find out if Europe is able to laugh at itself.’