It was then, in the town of Presov that I saw, for the first time in my life, a huge amount of anti-government posters and slogans.
M10 gas mask driver#
Our casern was in a forest close to village Bzenov and our unit had no clue about revolution movements in Prague and protests in other bigger cities in Czechoslovakia.īut then one day, myself and my driver Jiri (nickname George – in the picture the first person on the right) were sent to buy food and beverages for our unit. The reason they confined us all to barracks is simple: they wanted to hide the situation from us. These decisions were being made on the ground. I’ve done a bit of research for this article, trying to pinpoint the exact dates, and have discovered that it varied from barracks to barracks, and city to city, depending on the politics of local military officers. Naturally, our lockers and personal effects were subject to random searches. There was only one TV on the site, and we were forbidden to touch it, and listening to radio was also strictly prohibited. In practice, this meant we were not allowed to leave the premises at all –even to go for a walk. During this time, while my friends and I were aware that ‘something’was going on, we weren’t sure what it was because, together with the rest of the military, we found ourselves suddenly confined to barracks in November and December 1989. It was a strange experience for me, and the friends I had made there, as it coincided with Velvet Revolution (or, the end of the communist rule in the former Czechoslovakia). I did two years‘military service –which was compulsory in my country between 18. CAN YOU GIVE US A BIT OF BACKGROUND ABOUT YOUR MILITARY SERVICE? So we were delighted when Czech photographer Jan Kratochvil agreed to share some of his personal recollections about the M10, and more general thoughts about what it will be like having complete power over what happens to his old nemesis (at least until it’s time to stick it in the post to the next artist in the queue…!)ġ.
it quickly became clear that our illustrious common prop, a vintage M10 Gas Mask came with greater associations for some participants than others.
M10 gas mask series#
When the Mask Series first began, back in the halcyon days of 2012.
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