Czech artist David Černý barred from entering plane in Prague

Prague/Brussels, Oct 26 (CTK) – Czech sculptor David Černý was not today allowed to board the aircraft with which he wanted to fly to an event commemorating the 1989 overthrow of the Communist regime in Brussels and where he was to deliver a speech, Černý has told journalists.

Just before entering the aircraft in Prague before noon, the flight was banned to him at the pilot’s request and the air personnel tore up his air ticket, Černý said.

The spokeswoman for the Brussels Airlines, Wencke Lemmes-Pireaux, has confirmed the information that one of the passengers was not allowed to board the plane.

Referring to passengers’ privacy, she declined to disclose his name.

“I confirm that a passenger was not let in for the flight from Prague to Brussels of the Brussels Airlines SN2810. The passenger in question was under the influence of alcohol. He was not allowed to board the plane for security reasons,” Lemmes-Pireaux.

Černý said he had not been under the influence of alcohol as he stopped drinking some time ago and immediately upon leaving the aircraft he had a breathalyser test made in the Prague-Motol hospital with a negative result.

He said the aircraft personnel had not given him any explanation.

The event in Brussels is staged by many actors, including the embassies of Poland, Slovakia, Estonia and the Czech Republic. The latter paid the air ticket for Černý.

“I was told my escort could fly, but not me, since the pilot dislikes me,” Černý said.

Černý was scheduled to deliver a speech at the event focusing on the meaning of the 1989 developments for the present on Sunday.

Černý, now 51, gained his fame by repainting a Soviet tank, which served as a memorial to the Red Army in Prague, pink in 1991.

One year before, he made the Quo vadis sculpture of a “walking Trabant car” as a symbol of the mass exodus of Eastern Germans to the West via the West German embassy in Prague in the summer and autumn of 1989.

Černý is the author of dozens of other popular sculptures, including the babies, or 10 giant Babies “climbing” up the Zizkov transmitter tower in Prague.

Černý also supervised the creation of Entropa, an large installation that represented Czechia in the Council of the EU headquarters in Brussels during Prague’s EU presidency in the first half of 2009. It depicted individual EU states through the lenses of certain stereotypes with which other nations usually link them.

For the London 2012 Olympic Games, Černý created “London Booster”, or a double decker bus with mechanical arms for doing push-ups.

pvr/dr