Mercedes with 57mm Canon, 1998

AVL’s old company car, an ordinary Mercedes, was converted into a pick-up truck and equipped with a 57-mm canon designed by the atelier and made from everyday materials. Part of the exhibition The Good, The Bad and The Ugly presented in Rabastens in 1998, the Mercedes with the canon gained notoriety when the mayor banned the show. In 2002, the work was almost confiscated by the Rotterdam police, who started to impound artworks shortly after the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was murdered. They took AVL M80 Mortar but decided to come back the next day for the Mercedes. The car was transported to the Boijmans Museum, which decided to acquire the work for its permanent collection and save it from being destroyed.

Collection Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam