EUX.TV managed to exclusively film the taking-down of the controversial Entropa artwork in the atrium of the European Council before security guards ask our reporter to stop filming.
Less than one week after a new Czech Prime Minister took office and with nearly two months to go in the Czech presidency, the controversial “Entropa” art work by Czech artist David Czerny has been removed from the walls of the giant atrium at the European Union’s Council building in Brussels.
A statement from the Czech EU Presidency said the removal is “the outcome of the agreement between… Czerny and the government of the Czech Republic.”
According to the Czech engineers taking down Entropa, it will be moved to the Dox museum in Prague.
A Polish group called ‘Indeks 73′ has launched a petition to protest against the censorhip of David Cerny’s Entropa art work.
“Europe lacks critical reflection on controversial topics,” Indeks 73 writes in an open letter to the Bulgarian authorities that insisted on having their ‘Turkish toilet’ in Entropa covered up by a black cloth. “The real debate respecting opposing voices from different cultures, mentalities and ambitions has disappeared from political agendas.”
The group describes itself as an “informal collective of art activists, journalists and theoriticians” who aim to protect freedom of expression that’s guaranteed under the Polish constitution.
Its open letter carries the signatures of Izabela Kowalczyk PhD (art critic and theoretician, WSHiD Poznan), Agnieszka Kaim (social activist, Kultura Miejska Gdansk), Lidia Makowska (art and social activist, Kultura Miejska Gdansk), Ewa Majewska, PhD. (philosopher, Gender Studies Uniwersytet Warszawski), Daniel Muzyczuk (art historian, curator, Contemporary Art Centre Torun), Jacek Niegoda (artist), Roman Pawłowski (journalist, theatre critic, Gazeta Wyborcza Warszaw
“We are appealing to You to remove the black fabric from the “Entropa” and join the broad debate about real European problems,” they write. “David Černý’s self-irony and the famous Czech sense of humour might be of great help. As he has proved with “Entropa”, art has the power to provoke serious discussion and reactions, which reveal a lot of hidden mechanisms in contemporary art practice, media and power strategy.”
