ENTROPA: STEREOTYPES ARE BARRIERS TO BE DEMOLISHED
AZG Armenian Daily
13/01/2009
Culture
The Czech Republic unveiled a modern art installation called ‘Entropa’
in the atrium of the Justus Lipsius builiding of the EU Council
in Brussels.
The installation will remain in its stand-by mode until Thursday 15
January when it will ‘start to live’ in the full regime.
Entropa is the joint work of 27 artists, each one from a different
Member State. Each object depicts one Member State using common
stereotypes or prejudices. The Presidency commissioned the artists
without any restrictions and they were free to create any object
they liked.
‘Sculpture, and art more generally, can speak where words fail. In
line with the Czech Presidency motto a ‘Europe without Barriers’, we
gave the 27 artists the same opportunity to express themselves freely,
as a proof that in today´s Europe there is no place for censorship,’
said Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra. ‘In return we got an
uncommon, yet common piece of art. I am confident in Europe´s open
mind and capacity to appreciate such a project.’
‘The freedom of art as an extension of the freedom of speech is
the core value of democracy,’ said Milena Vicenová, the Permanent
Representative of the Czech Republic to the European Union. ‘There are
many barriers to integration and cooperation in Europe. Stereotypes are
such barriers. When we point out the stereotypes we begin demolishing
them. Making fun of prejudice destroys it most efficiently.’
The Czech Presidency’s motto a ‘Europe without Barriers’ expresses the
dedication to remove remaining obstacles to cooperation between the EU
Member States. In particular obstacles to the free movement of goods,
services, persons and capital. The Presidency notes that other barriers
also hamper a fruitful cooperation between the European nations.
The Czech government is renting Entropa until the 30 June 2009. The
rental costs amount to 50,000 euro. Other expenses, such as production
costs, were to be borne by the creator, the Czech artist David
Lerný, born 15 December 1967 in Prague. His works can be seen in
many locations in Prague and elsewhere. He gained notoriety in 1991
by painting a Soviet tank that served as a war memorial in central
Prague pink. As the Monument to Soviet Tank Crews was still a national
cultural monument at that time, he was briefly arrested. Another of
Cerny’s conspicuous contributions to Prague is his ‘Tower Babies’,
a series of cast figures of crawling infants attached to Zizkov
Television Tower.
It is a Presidency tradition to install a decoration in the Justus
Lipsius building atrium for the duration of the Presidency.
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