Sofia - Bulgaria must learn a lesson from the Czech artist David Černý's and his provoking piece Entropa that was installed in the European Council building during the Czech EU presidency, says Bulgarian Culture Minister Vezhdi Rashidov.
"The Czech artist actually did his job very well and provoked the mind of many people. This is actually the essence of the so called "action art"," Rashidov, artist himself, said commenting on Černý's decision not to visit Bulgaria after the Mayor of the city of Plovdiv did not allow his works to be exhibited in a municipality-owned gallery.
The Culture Minister said that no one has the right to "hinder the creative impulses of any artist", reports the Bulgarian news server novinite.com.
Černý sparked an outrage in Bulgaria when depicting Bulgaria as a Turkish toilet in his provoking exhibit Entropa that opened the Czech European Union presidency in Brussels in January 2009. The whole artwork mocks stereotypes of all EU member states.
Think about it
Vezhdi Rashidov has challenged everyone to start "contemplating why foreign artists see Bulgaria in such a way before making any rash decisions", according to the novinite.com.
"We should not really have made noise over the way he portrayed us in Brussels. We should have started to think why he did that," the Culture Minister said on Saturday.
The Plovdiv Mayor Slavcho Atanasov said earlier on Friday it was unacceptable for the man who depicted Bulgaria as a Turkish toilet to be welcomed in the country.
In an interview for the Bulgarian TV channel bTV Atanasov announced he was ready to "send two policemen to guard the entrance of Banyia Starinna gallery", in which Černý's artwork was supposed to be exhibited.
Černý told Czech daily Právo that he did not care much about the whole Plovdiv ban.
"I find it much more outrageous that the Czech President refuses to sign the Lisbon Treaty just because he does not like it," he said.
His latest piece is part of the project of local curator Emil Marazchiev titled "European Art 20 years after the Iron Curtain."
Artists and PM outraged
The Union of Bulgarian Artists was outraged by Atanasov´s ban of Černý work and issued an official invitation to the artist offering him to display his work in Sofia. In an open letter sent to Bulgarian media they say Černý can exhibit at the "Shipka 6" gallery in Sofia.
In the meantime, Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, said he would like to meet the artist in Sofia because he "deems important that people know Bulgaria is a democratic country that does not censor any expression of artists and intellectuals."
But the Czech art enfant terrible declined Borisov's invitation.
After the April Czech cabinet fall, Černý dismantled Entropa, accusing the Czech President Václav Klaus being behind the collapse of the government. He then displayed the installation, including the Bulgarian uncovered toilet in a Prague gallery.
