Czechs To Bulgarians: Really Sorry About That Toilet Thing

Friday, 16^th January 2009

Cerny Promises To Return Govt. Money For Sculpture (European Union)
David Cerny vowed yesterday to hand back all the public money he received for his EU sculpture although he was vague about the bulk £350,000 purse he was attempting to raise from private donors. Mr Cerny, 41, apologised for hoodwinking his government and said that he would not take the 50,000 Euros which the Czech Government agreed to pay to rent the sculpture for six months.
The Times (UK)

Czechs To Bulgarians: Really Sorry About That Toilet Thing (European Union)
The Czech EU presidency has apologised for an art installation it commissioned that lampoons national stereotypes. Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra apologised directly to Bulgaria, which has formally complained over its depiction as a toilet in the art work. He said the image, at the European Council building in Brussels, would be removed if Sofia insisted.

BBC

Reactions To Cerny's Joke More Entertaining Than The Art (European Union)
Whether 'Entropa,' Czech artist David Cerny's hoax representation of the 27 European states, was a good work of art, it certainly was a good joke. It also caused a certain amount of embarrassment to Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra when it was switched on.

Bloomberg

Uh, Czechs? Maybe Cerny Wasn't The Artist For The Job. (European Union)
The poor Czechs. Their turn at leading the EU already had provoked deep skepticism, and Cerny's 9-ton diss -- hanging at the entrance to the European Council building in Brussels -- doesn't help. But what did they expect?

Los Angeles Times

Kimbell Museum Names A Director: Cincinnati's Eric Lee (Fort Worth, US)
Eric Lee, who distinguished himself for two years as director of the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, is the new director of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Kay Fortson, president of the Kimbell Art Foundation, said the board voted unanimously to pick Lee, 42, after spending 18 months interviewing 'many, many, many candidates from all over the world.'
Dallas Morning News