There are few things drearier than cultural events to promote international harmony, so I gotta hand it to this guy David Cerny, who may be the greatest official Euro-artist of all time. The art in question is the commemorative sculpture to mark the Czech Republic’s assumption of the presidency of the European Union — traditionally an occasion for the usual lame Euro-boosterism. But Mr. Cerny’s inventiveness began with his application:

The Czech government commissioned the work in the belief that it would be completed by artists from the 27 EU member-states. That, at least, is what Czech artist David Cerny promised in his project application. Instead, Cerny made up the names of the European artists supposedly participating in the project and put it together with a couple of friends.

It gets better from there. Since its unveiling in Brussels, the sculpture has prompted outrage from EU diplomats:

“It is preposterous, a disgrace,” Betina Joteva, press officer for Bulgaria’s permanent representation in Brussels told the euobserver Web site. “It is a humiliation for the Bulgarian nation and an offence to national dignity.”
Joteva has, perhaps, reason to be upset. Her country is depicted in the eight-ton sculpture as a Turkish toilet. Many speculated that the reference might be to the centuries Bulgaria spent under Turkish rule.
But in a conversation with SPIEGEL ONLINE, the artist responsible for the sculpture, David Cerny, said it was intended to point to one of the things that is most obviously different for people who travel to Bulgaria. “No other country in Europe has those kinds of toilets,” he said.

This photo gallery has scenes of the lavatorially unique nation and other highlights from Mr Cerny’s Euro-map, including Denmark as a giant Mohammed cartoon in Lego. The Bulgars aren’t the only ones upset:

Germany is shown as being criss-crossed by autobahns — and some thought they recognized a slightly deformed swastika in the resulting design… Romania is shown as a Dracula theme park… Holland is shown as being flooded over with only a few minarets poking out above the waves…

But apparently the British are happy:

Responses from Great Britain, Cerny reports, have likewise been quite positive. The historically euro-skeptic country was left off the sculpture altogether.