Performance artist Artak Gevorgyan made headlines in December 2015 when he “drove” around the Armenian capital Yerevan in a green hand-painted cardboard tank. His route took him past several state buildings like the central electoral commission, the constitutional court, and the president’s house, before ending the journey by “crashing” the cardboard vehicle into the doors of the National Security Service building. The performance aimed to draw attention to the government’s monopoly on power — symbolised by the tank. “I just wanted to see how they [the government] would react to the fact that I also have a tank. And that I use my tank against them,” Gevorgyan explains.

This led to an arrest and later a court trial, in which Gevorgyan faced up to two years in prison for violating the public order, “disrupting the normal activities of security personnel at the NSS building” and “causing fears over property protection”. In late June he was acquitted — a surprising turn of events if you know the history of Gevorgyan’s previous altercations with the law. All these related to art — his own and that of his street art group, Hakaharvac (Counterstrike). The group has been subject to police attention from its inception. They have been detained over 10 times, and sometimes even charged as a result of their work. “It was very political right away. Counterstrike was founded for raising political issues with the help of art,” Gevorgyan explains.