Post: #1

I stumbled upon this by chance. It is a piece of contemporary art commissioned by the European Union(EU).

Contemporary art is usually very pretentious and offers scant value to the average person, but occasionally there are exceptions.

It is essentially a satirical look at the attempt to conglomerate the European nations under the banner of the EU. It caused a lot of controversy because of its use of stereotypes(an exaggeration of national identity, something the EU tries to reduce because it fears the rise of nationalism).

If you have an interest or awareness in post-WW2 European politics , then you will probably find this amusing. If you are not European etc, you could still find this an amusing story of how one guy tricked a massive organisation and the European art community.

Here is a brief look at the piece.




From wikipedia:

a breakdown of the nations represented:

Austria, a known opponent of atomic energy, is depicted as a green field dominated by nuclear power plant cooling towers with vapour coming out of them at intervals.

Belgium is presented as a box of half-eaten Praline chocolates.
Bulgaria is depicted by a series of connected "Turkish" squat toilets with neon lights connecting and illuminating them. This piece of the sculpture was later hidden with fabric.[8][9]

Cyprus is cut in half.

The Czech Republic's own piece is an LED display, which flashes controversial quotations by Czech President Václav Klaus.

Denmark is depicted as being built out of Lego bricks, and some claim to see in the depiction a face reminiscent of the cartoon controversy,[10] though the resemblance has been denied by Černý.[11]

Estonia is presented with power tools resembling a hammer and sickle, citing the country's consideration of a ban on Communist symbols.[12]

Finland is depicted as a wooden floor including a male with a rifle lying down, imagining an elephant, a hippo and a crocodile.[13]

France is draped in a "GRÈVE!" ("STRIKE!") banner.[8]

Germany is a series of interlocking autobahns with cars moving about on them, described as "somewhat resembling a swastika",[8][14][15] though the statement is not universally accepted.[16] Some Czech military historians also suggest that the autobahns resemble the number "18", which some Neo-nazi groups use as code for A.H., the initials of Adolf Hitler.[17]

Greece is depicted as a forest that has been entirely burned, possibly representing the 2007 Greek forest fires or the 2008 civil unrest in Greece.[18]

Hungary features an Atomium consisting of watermelons and Hungarian sausages, based on a floor of peppers.

Ireland is depicted as a brown bog with bagpipes protruding from Northern Ireland. The bagpipes also play music in five-minute intervals.[citation needed]

Italy is depicted as a football pitch[8] with several players who appear to be masturbating, possibly indicating what some see as the country's "fetish for football".[15]

Latvia is shown as covered with mountains, in contrast to its actual flat landscape.

Lithuania includes a series of dressed Manneken Pis-style figures urinating, with the streams of urine being illuminated by yellow glass fibres.
Luxembourg is displayed as a gold nugget with a "For Sale" sign.[8]

Malta is depicted as a tiny island with a prehistoric dwarf elephant, as well as a magnifying glass in front of the elephant.

The Netherlands is depicted as having disappeared under the sea with only several minarets still visible.[8]

Poland has a piece with priests erecting the rainbow flag of the Gay rights movement on a field of potatoes in the style of the famous photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.[19]

Portugal is shown as a wooden cutting board with three pieces of meat in the shape of its former colonies of Brazil, Angola, and Mozambique.

Romania is a Dracula-style theme park, which is set up to blink and emit ghostly sounds at intervals.[8]

Slovakia is depicted as a Hungarian sausage (or a human body wrapped in Hungarian tricolor).

Slovenia is shown as a rock engraved with the words "First Tourists Came Here, 1213".

Spain is covered entirely in concrete, with a concrete mixer situated in the north-east.[20]

Sweden, unlike the other pieces in the sculpture, does not have an outline, but is instead represented as a large Ikea-style self-assembly furniture box containing Gripen fighter planes (as supplied to the Czech Air Force).[21]

The United Kingdom, known for its Euroscepticism and relative isolation from Europe, is "included" as a missing piece (an empty space) at the top-left of the sculpture.[8]

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropa

Post: #2

Watch the EU with interest - it is the basic framework for the unification of all countries.

The same way is supposed to be run with North & South-America, Africa and Asia.

Post: #3

How dare he leave out Croatia!!!

Just kidding, I think the description of Slovenia covers it pretty well.