To mark its innings as holder of the European Union presidency, the Czech Republic commissioned a work from Prague artist David Cerny.

In his project application Cerny said the work would be created by artists from 27 EU member-states. The 27 Euro artists never materialized. Instead Cerny made up their names, then went ahead and put the sculpture together with a couple of his friends - for a laugh basically it seems, since Cerny has since confessed the whole thing was a hoax.

The final work is titled Entropa. Being fairly weighty it had to be transported to Brussels in three trailer trucks. When it was installed it generated so much anger in some quarters, there have been requests for it to be removed.

Apparently Cerny was inspired by Monty Python's Flying Circus, and you can definitely see the influence. The humor is both irreverent and ambivalent. You know he's taking the piss but it isn't always clear at whose expense - except of course for the more obvious targets.

The work is a sort of mosaic map of Europe - each country depicted as a stereotype that in some cases is less than flattering. Bulgaria for example is depicted as an 8 ton Turkish squat toilet - or rather toilets. This is taken by some to represent the years Bulgaria spent under Turkish rule.

Betina Joteva, a press officer from the Bulgarian EU office described the sculpture as "a humiliation for the Bulgarian nation and an offence to national dignity."

There have been suspicions that Cerny's work might be taking a dig at the EU concept in general. The Czech-Republic president, Vaclav Klaus, has long been regarded as Euro-skeptic. He even called for the bloc to be scrapped. He has described the EU as 'a threat as big as the Soviet Union'.

Slovakia is also deeply insulted. It is depicted in the work as a wrapped-up corpse.

The Czech decision to go with Cerny can't have been that naive - the Prague artist is known for his controversial art. His sculpture of a Saddam Hussein-like figure preserved in formaldehyde was banned by two countries.

Given that the work is a hoax and the 27 EU artists who were supposed to be in on it - aren't... a few questions have been raised about where the roughly $514,000 in funding went. For his part, Cerny claims that it is all a bit of fun and that he's "shocked that certain states don't have a sense of humor".

See what you think. Country-by-country exhibits beneath: