Ireland’s artistic EU presidency ‘circus’ avoids diplomatic landmines

The sound of hammers and drills had been echoing around the huge atrium of the Justus Lipsius building all morning. A small crew had spent several hours dismantling an Irish art installation, only to put it all back together a couple of days later.When a country takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union it is asked to commission some art to liven up the halls and corridors of the Council of the EU, the institution where ministers and officials from the 27 member states meet to discuss positions and compromises on all the legislation and policy settled in Brussels. The Irish Government went for a series of wooden structures covered in fabric when it assumed the six-month EU council presidency in July. Think colourful tents and tepees. It raised eyebrows. I’ve taken to calling it the Circus. There’s a few requirements for the art. Politically, don’t cause a diplomatic incident (more on this below). Practically, whatever is put up in the main atrium has to be easy to move. The space turns into a press centre accommodating desks for hundreds of journalists when the 27 national leaders hold regular summits in the adjoining Europa building. READ MORE“Every exhibition is different,” said a crew member dismantling the Irish structure before the most recent European Council summit. Power drills in hand, the contractors were taking apart a three-storey wooden frame, layer by layer. They insisted the Irish display wasn’t too much trouble to deconstruct and reassemble. We’re set to have at least two more summits here before Ireland’s EU presidency wraps at the end of the year, so they may feel differently by then. The Irish installation was designed by Richard Malone from Wexford, who I’m told is one of Ireland’s most talented young artists.Their artwork promised to challenge “traditional perceptions of Ireland in Europe” by showing the “vibrancy, originality and contemporary nature of our nation’s creative output”, according to the Government’s description of the cultural offering. An internal document, shared with EU council officials and seen by The Irish Times, says Malone’s vision based on “places of gathering, construction and trade”, from the theatre to the homestead and marketplace. [ Irish fashion designer Richard Malone: ‘Enya is the absolute – do the best work you can do, quietly’Opens in new window ]“The work uses fabric as a universally understood surface that carries collective histories of identity and labour,” the programme explains. “You commission it, but you can’t tell the artist what to do,” said one Government source nervously soliciting feedback. “The Circus is a good name,” a diplomat from another country remarked.Cyprus kept it simple. They laid out a row of warm yellow lights and two wooden benches during their presidency in the first half of this year. Viktor Orbán’s former far-right government in Hungary opted for futuristic. Budapest installed a screen projecting holograms of the Rubik’s Cube and other Hungarian inventions, such as the water turbine and holograms.The last time Ireland held the EU presidency in 2013 it went for a 15m blimp-like vessel that looked like it was floating near the tall ceiling of the atrium. Skylum by Andrew Kearney at the Justus Lipsius in Brussels was claimed to embody the ‘innovative and developed technology of contemporary Ireland' Nothing caused as much controversy as the Czech artwork in 2009, titled Entropa. The massive eight-tonne sculpture was an interconnected map of Europe that played on different national stereotypes. It didn’t go down well. Bulgaria was depicted as a squat toilet floor. Luxembourg was shown as a block of gold with a “for sale” sign attached to it. A series of autobahn motorways represented Germany, which some thought were arranged to look like a swastika. The outline of France was covered by a banner with the word “strike” across it. The Republic was a brown bog with a set of bagpipes taking the place of Northern Ireland. The sculpture caused consternation in Bulgaria, leading to that section of the artwork being covered by a black cloth. Tony Blair’s new Labour government waded into similarly choppy waters when the UK took over the Council of the EU presidency in 1998. A special logo and tie was commissioned, which is par for the course. However, the tie was designed by a bunch of schoolchildren asked to pick a symbol they thought best represented each EU member state. Cut to Blair receiving a call from an irate Romano Prodi, then Italy’s prime minister, fuming over the fact his country was shown as a slice of pizza. Retelling the anecdote in recent years, the former British prime minister said an adviser remarked how he’d gone pale after putting down the phone. Find out what the hell these kids have drawn for the Germans, Blair told the aide in a panic. Thankfully, they had chosen a river and forest. Maybe our circus tents were actually Ireland playing it safe after all.