This bent Mercedes-Benz truck is a sculpture, created by Austrian artist Erwin Wurm and installed in the German city of Karlsruhe.
Earlier this week, an inspector decided Wurm's creative, "wheels on the wall" approach to parking was not OK. No siree Bob.
German city of Karlsruhe just issued a parking ticket to artist Erwin Wurm for one of his bent car sculptures
A ticket of 30 euros was issued, and the ZKM Center for Art and Media confirmed it was real.
"It's a real ticket," they wrote on Facebook, adding that they would be liable to pay the fine as the insitution displaying the artwork.
However, the ZKM were ready to fight the ticket – and had the mayor of Karlsruhe on board.
"Frank Mentrup will appeal against the fine on our behalf," they said.
Twitter was awash with discussion about this seemingly over-zealous German parking inspector.
@sham_jaff @Raf_Epstein Sticker licker either had a wicked sense of humour, or none at all!
@sham_jaff @hex2 This is so German, it's a pain in the ass..
@sham_jaff @julian0liver greatest piece of comedic conceptual art of the year. "Beautiful" german diligence.
But it turns out the parking inspector in question was neither extremely confused, nor overly persnickety. They were just having a good old joke.
"This was meant by the colleagues from the outset as a joke," a city spokesperson told German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel.
The official went to great lengths to fool the city – printing the ticket, placing it on the car, and then deleting the operation. He even told the clerk's office what he was doing.
It's not often parking inspectors are congratulated – but this time, you've gotta say it. Well played, inspector. Well played.
