London Booster

{{Short description|Art installation in Prague, Czechia}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox artwork | title = London Booster | image = London_Booster.jpg | caption = ''London Booster'' in London, 2012 | mapframe = yes | other_language_1 = Czech | other_title_1 = Klikující autobus | artist = David Černý | year = 2012 | subject = Push-up, double-decker bus | length_metric = 900 | dimensions_ref = | city = Prague | owner = Agrofert }}

'''''London Booster''''' is an art installation by the Czech artist David Černý<ref>{{Cite web|last=Wortys|first=Sebastián|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/london-booster|title=This Ripped London Bus Does a Pushup Every Afternoon|website=Atlas Obscura|date=13 January 2017|access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref> that consists of a bus fitted with hydraulic arms, allowing it to do push-ups, accompanied by audiovisual effects. It was created to celebrate the 2012 Summer Olympics and to inspire the Czech Olympic team. It was installed outside the Business Design Centre in Islington, which for the duration of the games was transformed into "Czech House".<ref>{{cite web|last=Pickering|first=Mark|url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/aug/10/david-cerny-sculpture-walk-prague-city-break|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140901063131/https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2012/aug/10/david-cerny-sculpture-walk-prague-city-break|archive-date=1 September 2014|title=A David Cerny sculpture walk in Prague|work=The Guardian|date=10 August 2012}}</ref>

After the Olympics, the bus was installed in the Prague neighborhood of Chodov, in front of the headquarters of Agrofert, a company owned by former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš, which sponsored the work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://art.ihned.cz/umeni/c1-56734870-autobus-od-cerneho-koupil-babis-za-9-milionu-bude-cvicit-u-sidla-jeho-spolecnosti|title=Autobus od Černého koupil Babiš za 9 milionů, bude cvičit u sídla jeho společnosti|agency=Czech News Agency|date=25 July 2012|website=Hospodářské noviny|language=cs|access-date=3 May 2019|publisher=Economia}}</ref>

==Bus== {{Unreferenced section|date=December 2023}}

The bus itself is a 1958 Bristol Lodekka LD double-decker with ECW bodywork. Despite being painted red, it never saw use as a London bus; it was new to the Isle of Wight–based operator Southern Vectis, numbered 555, registered ODL 15, and painted in their green livery. After twenty years of service, it was sold to a dealer who exported it to a museum in the Netherlands. In the 1990s, it was sold to a private operator, who returned it to use in the Netherlands as a red liveried corporate hospitality vehicle, registered BE-27-64. Černý sourced it in December 2011 from a Dutch dealer.

{{Gallery | File:Roaring Bus.webm | Video of ''London Booster'' in London | File:Chodovec, London Booster.jpg | ''London Booster'' in Prague }}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|London Booster by David Černý}} * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbRlcPdwPU Video of ''London Booster'' moving] on YouTube

Category:2012 establishments in the Czech Republic Category:2012 sculptures Category:Art vehicles Category:Customised buses Category:Double-decker buses Category:Kinetic sculptures in the Czech Republic Category:Outdoor sculptures in Prague Category:Sports sculptures Category:Works by Czech people Category:Chodov (Prague) Category:21st-century architecture in the Czech Republic