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.

Czech Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexander Vondra on Thursday said the Czech presidency of the European Union is ready to have removed a controversial element of the Entropa art exhibition that has sparked a diplomatic row between Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

Speaking at the opening of the exhibit in the atrium of the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, Vondra said the artwork will stay up until the ” end of June”, when the Czech presidency ends, but the Bulgarian element would be removed if the Bulgarian government insists.

Bulgaria has been portrayed through a combination of a Turkish toilet and pipes. The country’s government earlier this week summoned the Czech ambassador in Sofia for an explanation.

Vondra said there are still “open issues” in the talks with Bulgaria. At the presentation, he also apologized to Bulgaria.

“We consider Entropa as a piece of art. Nothing more. Nothing less,” he said.

Czech artist David Cerny, who coordinated the Entropa exhibit, also apologized to Bulgaria and said he would not object to the Bulgarian toilets being removed.

“If we are asked to, we will do so,” he said at the presentation of Entropa

The Czech presidency of the European Union on Wednesday removed from its website a brochure with a detailed description of its controversial art exhibit, Entropa, in Brussels after the artist who coordinated its said he duped the Czech government. The art exhibit is due to be opened officially on Thursday.

The brochure was still available on the site on Tuesday, when EUX.TV downloaded it. Find the original here.

David Cerny told Czech media he made up the names of the artists who made individual national pieces of the artwork, and said he made the entire piece together with two friends.

So names like Roger Geboers (Belgium), Elena Jelebova (Bulgaria), Lars Kristjansen (Denmark) and Helmut Bauer (Germany) prove fictional, according to news reports. But a quick search on the web shows doubts remain on some of the names. Germany does have an artist called Helmut Bauer. But no one in Bulgaria has ever heard of Elena Jelebova…

The 8-ton art exhibit was posted into the atrium of the European Council’s Justus Lipsius building on Monday and already has triggered a major wave of controversy. Bulgaria has been portrayed as a Turkish toilet, causing the Bulgarian government to summon the Czech ambassador. The German highways are shaped almost as a swastika, while the lego motive used to depict Denmark clearly shows the controversial cartoon of Mohammed made by Kurt Westergaard.