European Stereotypes in EU Installation Piece
To commemorate the Czech Republic’s six-month turn at the EU presidency, an art installation piece portraying maps of European countries by their stereotypes has been installed in the European Council building. “France’s map is emblazoned with the word GREVE! (French for strike) in red, a reference to its frequent industrial disputes. Romania is a Dracula theme park, Sweden is a do-it-yourself furniture flatpack and Britain does not appear at all,” Reuters reports. “‘Entropa’ is the joint work of artists representing each EU member country and the brainchild of 41-year-old Czech artist David Cerny, famed at home for re-painting a Soviet tank pink.” Photos via the link. Via GeoCarta.
Update, 1/14: Roger passes on news that the piece has run into trouble: Cerny misled the Czech government; it’s not the joint work of artists from each EU country, but the work of Cerny and a couple of friends. Also, the Bulgarians are pissed.
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The Map Room is a blog about maps by
Take a look at Germany!
What is the stereotype they are using there? A swastika?
I can’t tell for sure, but it looks like a slightly warped swastika overlayed on the map of Germany… Romania might (maybe) laugh at the Dracula thing… but I’m not sure how the Germans would feel about that “stereotype”