Czech Art Collective Punished for Mushroom Cloud Prank

Members of Ztohoven, a Czech art collective, hacked into a television network to superimpose a mushroom cloud over a weather report. Each has has been fined $3,210 each. They were acquitted of greater charges. The artists were trying to show that the network fails to carry out its mission of public broadcasting.

According to the New York Times Article, members claimed the action on Czech Television, which Ztohoven titled “Media Reality,” was “not meant to be threatening but to land softly on the public consciousness so that people won’t let themselves be brainwashed.”

The artists just wanted to startle viewers “from their lethargy.”