Sat, Feb 11 2012

Artwork row continues as Bulgarian National Bank weighs in

Tue, Jan 20 2009 17:31 CET

byRene Beekman

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Artwork row continues as Bulgarian National Bank weighs in

Only hours after the Entropa artwork was partially hidden behind a black curtain, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) sent out a media statement saying it would pull out of European meetings if the work was not taken down.

The artwork, entitled Entropa, is the work of Czech artist David Cerny, and is a satirical work that also portrays Romania as a Dracula theme-park, France as a country on strike and The Netherlands as flooded with only the minarets of mosques sticking out above the water.

Czech minister of European affairs Aleksandr Vondra formally apologised, but Bulgaria demanded the work be taken down.

Bulgarian artists started an online petition, saying that taking down the artwork would amount to a limitation of freedom of speech and was symptomatic for a lack of tolerance, humor and culture.

BNB head Ivan Iskrov, in a statement on January 20, appealed to head of the Czech national bank Zdeněk Tůma to use his is "significant personal and professional influence and to assist within his legal powers in the removal of the insulting artwork."

"In case this doesn't happen," the BNB media statement continues, "Mr. Iskrov informs his Czech colleague that he will not be able to participate in the meeting of the finance ministers and managers of central banks in the EU in Prague on April 3 - 4 2009."

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