A new art installation, on display at the European Council building in Brussels, has enraged Bulgarian observers with its depiction of Bulgaria as a toilet.

Not that Bulgaria was the exclusive target of the satirist in question. Entropa, the work of Czech artist David Cerny, also portrays Romania as a Dracula theme-park and France as a country on strike. The Netherlands is shown as series of minarets submerged by a flood and Germany is shown as a network of motorways vaguely resembling a swastika. Controversially, the UK is excluded from the artwork completely, perhaps a metaphor for the country's self-imposed isolation from the EU.

The saga had many twists and turns. Initially at least,  the Czech Republic, which holds the EU presidency, thought it had commissioned work from 27 European artists.

When the exhibit, a mosaic held together by snap-out plastic parts similar to those used in modelling kits, was first unveiled, it was believed to have been the work of Cerny and two associates. One of the artists was supposed to have been a Bulgarian artist named Elena Zhelebova,  who was initially reported to be the author of the controversial depiction of Bulgaria as a squat toilet. 

Bulgaria, however, failed to see the funny side. It expressed its indignation and demanded the "toilet's" removal.

"It is preposterous, a disgrace," Betina Joteva, spokeswoman of the Bulgarian permanent representation to the EU, said, describing it as "a humiliation for the Bulgarian nation and an offence to our national dignity".

The Bulgarian Ministry of Culture was quoted by Dnevnik daily as saying on January 13 2009 that "it had nothing to do with it". It also issued a statement saying that the art project had not been vetted by the ministry and that it was perplexed with how Zhelebova (at that stage still presumed to be the artist behind the Bulgarian exhibit) had been selected to construct it.

Zhelebova was originally quoted as saying that her involvement with the project was a way for her to find lighthearted relief from the hopelessness of Bulgaria's material and spiritual plight. "The project surely would irritate many people and this has been my main objective - to induce a scandal, especially at home. This is a punk gesture, deliberately primitive and vulgar, faecal immaturity," `she' said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs certainly agreed with the description of the mosaic as being in bad taste. It summoned Martin Klepetko, Czech ambassador to Bulgaria, to express its displeasure. Nikola Kaloudov, from the Europa II directorate, also demanded that the Bulgarian exhibit be dismantled from the installation before its official opening on January 15. Kaloudov also deplored the fact that the Czech presidency had failed to inform official Bulgarian institutions about the planned exhibit.

On January 14 the controversy surrounding around the exhibition yielded a further twist when Cerny admitted that the whole project was a hoax. Not only had it never been a collaborative effort by artists from all 27 EU members, but the supposed Bulgarian artist, Elena Zhelebova, was also a pure fabrication.

Cerny said in a statement that "grotesque exaggeration and mystification is a hallmark of Czech culture, and creating false identities is one of the strategies of contemporary art".

Only a day before the official opening, Alexandr Vondra, Czech deputy minister for European affairs, responded that he was "unpleasantly surprised" to learn that Cerny was the artist behind it and not 27 artists from the member states, as had been the original idea.

Cerny said that, initially, he had intended to include one colleague from all the countries concerned. But the plan fell through for various reasons and so he decided to invent the names.

"We apologise ... for our failure to tell (Czech officials) about the real state of things and for misleading them," said the statement. "I knew the truth would surface, but before that, we wanted to find out whether Europe can laugh at itself."

It would appear that, for Bulgaria at least, the "humour" fell rather flat.