BBC quiz adds to Malta depiction controversy

The BBC website has added fuel to the controversy which erupted last week when a Czech artist produced an installation poking fun at all EU countries.

The installation entitled Entropa, produced by David Cerny, plays with the national stereotypes of EU member states, but the Czech EU presidency has ended up apologising to several countries because of the way they were featured. Malta was depicted as a dwarf elephant, which is almost impossible to see.

The installation was originally intended to be the common work of artists from the 27 member states with funding of €350,000. However, Mr Cerny decided, without consulting anyone, to go it alone and, in a bid to respect his contract, invented the names of the 26 other collaborators, including a phantom Maltese artist.

"Malta is a small, perhaps negligible, lump of rock. For some people, its size may be a cause of mirth. What, then, would they make of our most famous animal, which nobody had ever actually seen: the dwarf elephant, a creature almost too small to miss," the phantom artist asked.

Playing on the Għar Dalam findings, the artist said that "20,000 years ago, Malta was home to an elephant no taller than 90 centimetres. Imagine an elephant so small you can't see it with your own eyes and release it on the island."

The BBC website referred to the controversy in its news quiz, asking its readers what image was used to depict Malta.

Three choices were given - A dwarf elephant, a knight in armour and... a dead bird.