On January 20, 2009, David Černy's installation Entropa. Stereotypes are barriers to be demolished was censored. The government of Bulgaria demanded to remove or cover the presentation of Bulgaria as a Turkish squat toilet.

Entropa was created to mark the occasion of Czech presidency of the European Union. At the launch of the installation the Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra stated that “twenty years after the fall of the Iron Curtain there is no place for censorship in Europe”. A few days later it turned out how wrong he had been – the art work in the building of the Council of Europe was covered with a black cloth. In the democratic (?) Union discussion was replaced with censorship... Even Culture Action Europe in Brussels, one of the most significant networks in the domain of cultural policies (sic!) refused to distribute information about the petition as they didn't want to get involved in the politically controversial affair.

On January 26 Indeks 73 Initiative presented an international petition against this disgraceful act of censorship. During three weeks it was signed by 288 people from 19 countries (read a list of names), including many renowned activists, artists, lecturers, critics and other respresentatives of art and culture. Our protest was also supported by many citizens of Bulgaria, taking advantage of Entropa to criticise the current government in Sofia. Others showed understanding for offended Bulgarians, remembering unhealed wounds in Turkish-Bulgarian history.

There have been opinions concerning an ethical aspect of David Černy's work, accusing him of abusing confidence of the Czech authorities, especially of the Deputy Prime Minister Aleksander Vondra, who had enthusiastically supported this controversial project. Indeks 73 petition also encountered some commentaries form culture-forming circles, questioning the purpose of the petition in defence of the censored artist. Zbigniew Libera points out that David Černy, in spite of his controversial works, is one of the most popular and frequently invited Czech artists in Europe. He earns a lot of money on his scandals and skilfully uses a game based on freedom of artistic expression restrictions.

On Thursday, February 26, the petition was sent to the authorities in Sofia.

The petition was supported by:

• Adam Bodnar, PhD - Lawyer, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Warsaw University, Poland
• Sabine Frank - Deputy Secretary-General of Culture Action Europe (former EFAH) in Brussels, Coordinator of the Rainbow Platform - The Civil Society Platform for Intercultural Dialogue
• Dessy Gavrilova – Director of The Red House Center for Culture and Debate, Sofia, Bulgaria
• Professor Dragan Klaic - Theater scholar and cultural analyst, Central European University Budapest, Permanent Fellow of Felix Meritis in Amsterdam
• Krzysztof Mieszkowski – thetatre critic, director of Teatr Polski (Wrocław)
• Professor Leonard Neuger - literature historian and theoretician, Stockholm University, Sweden
• Desislava Petrova - Human Rights Activist, Bulgaria
• Professor Piotr Piotrowski - Art Historian, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland
• Chris Torch – Director of the Intercult, Vice-President of the Culture Action Europe, Sweden
• Artists: Grzegorz Klaman, Jerzy Mazzoll, Aleksandra Polisiewicz, Jacek Markiewicz, Ania Witkowska, Stefan Lyutakov, Hubert Czerepok, Rafał Jakubowicz
• Mieczysław Abramowicz (writer), Marek Modzelewski (drama writer), Rolandas Rastauskas (poet and performer, Lithuania)
• Art Critics: Piotr Bernatowicz, Danail Brezov, Anka Ptaszkowska, Ruen Ruenov, Stanisław Ruksza, Monika Weychert Waluszko
• Dorota Jarecka and Mariusz Szczygieł (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland), Malgorzata Żerwe (Radio Gdańsk, Poland)

The petition evoked many interesting comments, for example:
Indeks 73 has received loads of emails concerning the protest against censoring Černy's work. Some of them express words of support, others – quite the contrary. We would like to thank for all of them. You can read them online in section Letters to Indeks 73. It's worth quoting a few:
Our action was discribed in foreign media, for example Prague Monitor. Unfortunately Polish media failed to tackle the matter, probably in fear of a controversial subject.

Our petition also provoked a Bulgarian artist called Petko Stoyanov, indignant with Černy's work and our lack of understanding for other offended Bulgarians, who prepared his own version of Entropa. We appreciate his voice, which shows one can raise an objection to an art work in a different way than by means of censorship, but by enetering the dialogue with the Czech artist.