David Cerny: The Glorious 90s in Prague. Reprinted by Prusa Research.

Without exaggeration, 35 years ago, in 1991, a new era of Czech visual art began. Artist David Cerny painted a Soviet tank bright pink. Legend has it he did it for a girl – but this story is far from an uncomplicated love tale. At the centre of the exhibition is Soviet Tank No. 23, once prominently displayed in Prague, erected to commemorate the liberation of Czechoslovakia at the end of the Second World War. Over time, however, it came to symbolise Soviet expansionism and, after 1968, the real occupation by tanks sent from Moscow to Czechoslovakia.  As part of the London Design Festival, Czech Centre London presents David Cerny’s iconic work and its story with interesting twists and turns in a new printed edition – quite literally. The artist has teamed up with the innovative Czech company Prusa Research, one of the world's leading manufacturers of 3D printers, to create a 3D-printed model of the Pink Tank. The sculpture itself captures the optimism of the newly regained freedom of the early 1990s while bringing Cerny’s trademark humour and sense of absurdity into an important debate about public space. It reflects a specific Central European experience and creates an interesting dialogue with the British one. What we cannot unsee is how it casts the shadow of threats that have once again become relevant today. Alongside the Pink Tank, the exhibition will feature other works by David Cerny, recipient of international and Czech art awards, whom the BBC named among the world's most provocative visual artists. Don’t miss, for example, Cerny's take on St Wenceslas statue, depicting the Czech patron saint well known to the British public from the popular English carol Good King Wenceslas, also presented as a 3D print. Prusa Research, represents new chapters of Czech innovation and creativity. Today a global technological company started as a garage start-up in 2012 in Prague. This exhibition will showcase the possibilities of 3D printing in contemporary art, demonstrating how this rapidly evolving technology is opening new creative possibilities for artists and designers too. In 2025, Josef Prusa, the founder of Prusa Research, received the Czech Presidential Medal of Merit for his contributions to the economy, popularizing 3D printing and making the technology globally accessible.  EXHIBITION OPENING: Friday 11 September 2026, 6.30 – 8.30pm Free entry The exhibition is part of the 30th Made in Prague Festival organised by the Czech Centre.