Entropa

When I found this little nugget of news, I immediately called dibs before Keith could blog about it. There is a fantastic story going around about an "art hoax" in Europe. The European Union received a huge new mosaic to be placed outside the European Council Building in Brussels, where EU leaders hold their summits. The massive mosaic was unveiled this week and, it turns out, the whole thing is a gigantic joke on the countries of the EU. They've already installed this thing so it's up there (for now, anyway).

The mosaic was intended to be a tribute to the countries in the EU. It was created by Czech artist, David Cerny, and here's how audacious this dude is:

• Bulgaria is depicted as a rudimentary toilet.
• France is emblazened with the word GREVE! (French for strike), a reference to its frequent industrial disputes.
  
• Germany is a series of crisp highways in the shape of a swastika.
• Luxembourg is represented as a lump of gold, on sale to the highest bidder.
• Lithuanians are urinating on Russia.

So, at the ceremonial unveiling, what did Cerny have to say? "We knew the truth would come out. But before that we wanted to find out if Europe was able to laugh at itself." I can't speak for Europe, but I'm dying of laughter over here. It's painfully rare to find an artist with a good sense of humor. Well, Cerny may not be so much funny as he is sardonic. Still I appreciate this refreshingly comical tidbit from the other side of the ocean, you know, the side with the Louvre.

You can see pictures and read more about the mosaic here.