Artwork Worthy of the E.U.

Ronald Bailey | January 15, 2009

A new sculpture installed this past week in Brussels at the headquarters of the European Council, according to the New York Times, was meant to "symbolize the glory of a unified Europe by reflecting something special about each country in the European Union." Well, the sculpture, Entropa, does indeed depict "something special" about each E.U. member state.

As the Times reports:

Here is Bulgaria, represented as a series of crude, hole-in-the-floor toilets. Here is the Netherlands, subsumed by floods, with only a few minarets peeping out from the water. Luxembourg is depicted as a tiny lump of gold marked by a “for sale” sign, while five Lithuanian soldiers are apparently urinating on Russia.

France? On strike.

The 172-square-foot, eight-ton installation, titled “Entropa,” consists of a sort of puzzle formed by the geographical shapes of European countries.

Enjoy some of the close ups below:

Truly a masterpiece worthy of one of most humorless, intrusive, convoluted governance systems ever devised. To call the E.U. bureaucracy "Byzantine" would be a slur on that defunct empire. 

Whole Times article here. 

Comments

BDB|1.15.09 @ 7:56PM|#

I'd hate to see what a version with American States would look like.

Paul|1.15.09 @ 7:58PM|#

I'd hate to see what a version with American States would look like.

An outstretched palm with the moniker "bailout".

Paul|1.15.09 @ 7:59PM|#

Man, you gotta admit, the artist that put that together really knew Europe. I mean really knew it.

BDB|1.15.09 @ 8:03PM|#

No, I mean one for each individual state.

Of course Michigan would be the outstretched hand with "BAILOUT" on it.

|1.15.09 @ 8:16PM|#

BDB, I'd love to see that. Offensive humor makes my day.

BDB|1.15.09 @ 8:19PM|#

Epi, there are so many offensive ideas for West Virginia and Arkansas. Oh, and Alabama.

|1.15.09 @ 8:27PM|#

Dude, I could come up with unbelievably offensive shit for every state. And it would be fun.

BDB|1.15.09 @ 8:28PM|#

Episiarch | January 15, 2009, 8:27pm | #
Dude, I could come up with unbelievably offensive shit for every state. And it would be fun.

*thinks of random states*

New Hampshire...and...

South Dakota.

GO!

|1.15.09 @ 8:52PM|#

New Hampshire: former Massholes and people who think they "live free or die" because they have no income or sales tax, but have massive property taxes.

South Dakota: not even a real state. Does anyone human actually live there?

That's just off the top of my head. I need to eat dinner.

Adam|1.15.09 @ 8:57PM|#

The problem is that this piece isn't mocking the bureaucracies, it's mocking the countries themselves (and presumably, the people living therein). I mean, I'm not sure how it strikes a blow for individualism to portray Bulgaria as an assembly of squat toilets. That seems more demeaning to Bulgarians than it does to the EU.

It has to be said...|1.15.09 @ 9:13PM|#

For Delaware I would put Pennsylvania taking a dump.

That third pic down looks like something you see in a proctologist's office...in prison.

sage|1.15.09 @ 9:14PM|#

Oops, forgot to change my troll name. 9:13 was me.

Neu Mejican|1.15.09 @ 9:23PM|#

Epi: "Episiarch | January 15, 2009, 8:27pm | #
Dude, I could come up with unbelievably offensive shit for every state. And it would be fun."

First attempt: former Massholes and people who think they "live free or die" because they have no income or sales tax, but have massive property taxes.

South Dakota: not even a real state. Does anyone human actually live there?

"unbelievably offensive shit" must not mean what I think it means.

jk|1.15.09 @ 9:35PM|#

Delaware: a place with a pipeline for Pennsylvania liquor consumers.

California: a great place to have your colon piping cleansed.

Nevada: a place with a pipeline for fleeing Californians.

Utah: a place where you can get underware to protect your pipelines.

Alaska: a place where you can pray for pipelines.

Guy Montag|1.15.09 @ 9:38PM|#

For the USA version, some variant on "Maryland: Virginia's trailer park".

From first blush (the next article) and second blush (this article) I am reminded of the Hill Street Blues episode where some "community artist" was commisssioned to make do a sculpture. It turned out to be somewhat phallic in nature.

Hope this turns out better. The artist in the HSB episode ended up in a NYC psychiatric facility.

|1.15.09 @ 9:45PM|#

"unbelievably offensive shit" must not mean what I think it means.

You are correct. I was rushed, hungry, and not motivated to maximum offensiveness. This is my time off, dude. I'll try to actually be offensive tomorrow.

Lefiti|1.15.09 @ 9:45PM|#

"To call the E.U. bureaucracy 'Byzantine' would be a slur on that defunct empire."

But of course anybody with any sense takes such promouncements from a market fundamentalist fanatic fuck with a grain of salt.

cuernimus|1.15.09 @ 10:20PM|#

South Dakota would be best represented by an empty square.

The work has undoubtedly upset other people, too. The Germans are probably not too thrilled that their country is represented as a series of highways that, looked at a certain way, possibly bring to mind a swastika.

There's no way that stays up for long.

BDB|1.15.09 @ 10:48PM|#

How about North Dakota?

cuernimus|1.15.09 @ 10:57PM|#

Actually I retract my former statement, South Dakota would have a very small makeup of Mount Rushmore but be presented in such a way as to make it not worth anyone's time to look at.

North Dakota would be an existential piece about life, or more specifically, why someone would want to spend their life in North Dakota.

jk|1.15.09 @ 11:25PM|#

...why someone would want to spend their life in North Dakota.

The theme song to the 60's TV show "Green Acres" might be helpful in answering your question.

cuernimus|1.15.09 @ 11:52PM|#

I'd agree as long as the Eddie Albert part would be replaced with several seconds of silence or perhaps wind blowing really hard.

jk|1.16.09 @ 12:11AM|#

To each his own. I'd have no honest way to even pay the property tax on a Park Avenue condo even if you just gave me the title to it. I'd rather have the peace-of-mind that would come with living in a trailer park outside of Bismark, ND than stress out about living in luxury in the Big Apple.

cuernimus|1.16.09 @ 12:40AM|#

Yes, it is definitely better to be bored out of my mind then in a city that doesn't know when to shut the fuck up.

As for artwork for my native Texas, I'm thinking either a bunch of cows and Lance Armstrong teabagging Matthew MacConaughey or a reproduction of Michelangelo's David with an oversized Stetson and belt buckle and very small genitalia.

Xeones|1.16.09 @ 9:13AM|#

For Virginia, we could have Tim Kaine's eyebrow, carved from the shells of endangered Chesapeake Bay oysters.

BDB|1.16.09 @ 9:30AM|#

"Xeones | January 16, 2009, 9:13am | #
For Virginia, we could have Tim Kaine's eyebrow, carved from the shells of endangered Chesapeake Bay oysters."

HA! Sounds perfect.

BDB|1.16.09 @ 9:30AM|#

For Mass.?

Tyler|1.16.09 @ 9:50AM|#

Something unbelievably offensive, eh?

For New Jersey, a New Jersey-shaped sculpture that is labeled "New Jersey"

Tyler|1.16.09 @ 9:51AM|#

Oh, and it could have a jug-handle.

Ravac|1.16.09 @ 10:04AM|#

For Mass.?

A tax bill that cuts across 3 lanes of traffic without using its signal lights.

Or a sculpture of Teddy with a crown and a snorkel.

|1.16.09 @ 10:48AM|#

How about North Dakota?

Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Montana and Alaska would all be represented by a guy with his tongue frozen to something state-appropriate.

|1.16.09 @ 11:27AM|#

I like the way the whole thing is supported. Like the 'runner' of injection molded plastic. Europe as pieced to break off and assemble. heh

For the US I don't know.

If MI get's tarred with bail out, then is should be lean piggy, dressed in rags, with it's bone poking out holding up a bowl ala Oliver Twist and just a few grains of corn in the bowl

Then NY should be a big fat hog in a tuxedo with it's golden bowl overflowing with corn.

Then IA should be a score of pigs swimming in a lake of corn.

I live in MO, and it is the worst place I've ever lived (and I spent time in AL). The whole state is filled with hicks proud of their hickdom. I don't know how to symbolize that, maybe something with a trailer house. But maybe St. Louis and Kansas City count more than the whole rest of this Ozarkopia.

zoltan|1.16.09 @ 8:30PM|#

As for artwork for my native Texas, I'm thinking either a bunch of cows and Lance Armstrong teabagging Matthew MacConaughey or a reproduction of Michelangelo's David with an oversized Stetson and belt buckle and very small genitalia.


Or, since that's how it already is, just, "a reproduction of Michelangelo's David with an oversized Stetson and belt buckle and very small genitalia"

economist|1.16.09 @ 10:19PM|#

Mississippi gets to be the kid with buck teeth and the Dunce cap.

economist|1.16.09 @ 10:20PM|#

New York could be represented by a hand holding up the middle finger.

economist|1.16.09 @ 10:21PM|#

Louisiana, of course, is represented as a flooded area with the Superdome sticking out.