David Černý is one of my favorite artists. His installations can be found in many places around the world, but the treasure trove of them can be located in Prague. The one in the picture has a long story… In 1991, when the Russian troops were finally leaving Czechoslovakia, David Černý and a group of art students painted the Russian tank pink. This tank had been standing on a pedestal and symbolizing for generations that it was only Russians who liberated Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany (even though it was also Americans who liberated the west part of the country). On top of that, it was Russian tanks who came in 1968 to crush the so-called “Prague spring” and threw this country back into a totalitarian rule – Czechs simply did not like the Russian tank statue…
So, this act was qualified as vandalism and the tank was painted back green. However, it did not take long and the tank was pink again. And finally it was moved to the military museum – however, it stayed painted pink. You can see the story of its use at the 20th anniversary of Russians leaving the country here.
David Černý became quite a renowned artist and as a reminder of this story he placed the piece of the tank close to the place where the original tank was standing. You can make a point to locate all pieces of his work displayed in Prague, it would make for a nice trip through town. Links [1] or [2]
