tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/banksy-7818/articlesBanksy – The Conversation2023-10-11T12:15:42Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2152932023-10-11T12:15:42Z2023-10-11T12:15:42ZUnmasking Banksy – the street artist is not one man but a whole brand of people<p>The graffiti artist known as Banksy might be unmasked in an upcoming defamation case over <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/banksy-sued-instagram-post-guess-full-colour-black-b1111802.html">his use of Instagram to invite shoplifters to go to a Guess</a> store because it had used his imagery without permission. The case could be seen as an attempt to force Banksy to relinquish his anonymity, which, many say, has been important to his success over the years. </p>
<p>There has been much speculation as to the identity of the artist and he is believed by many to be Bristol’s Robin Gunningham, who was named <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12586143/Will-Banksy-finally-unmasked.html">as a co-defendant in the defamation suit</a>. While it has not been confirmed that Banksy is Gunningham, pointing this out is in no way a revelation. Moreover, trying to find out Banksy’s identity ultimately does not matter.</p>
<p>There have been many <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/banksy-identity-revealed-scientists-441185">investigations</a> into the <a href="https://blog.artsper.com/en/lifestyle/banksys-identity/">artist’s identity</a> and it has been the topic of serious <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/08/arts/design/banksy-identified-by-scientists-maybe.html">journalistic</a> and <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/77040608.pdf">academic</a> investigation for years, but no one has been able to absolutely link Gunningham and Banksy. </p>
<p>Short of Gunningham’s admission, complete certainty is unlikely. But if Banksy’s identity is revealed, police forces around the world could bring vandalism, property destruction, criminal mischief or worse charges against the individual. </p>
<p>Gunningham revealing himself would also destroy the Banksy mystique.</p>
<p>He is not likely to snitch on himself or damage the brand. The more important reason Gunningham being Banksy doesn’t matter is because there is no Banksy – no individual who is Banksy anyway. </p>
<h2>A collective</h2>
<p>At one time, there was one Banksy who had a graffiti career and a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulOiB3xEkzM">famous “beef” in the subculture with London graffiti legend Robbo</a>. That time is gone. </p>
<p><a href="https://glasgowtransmission.wordpress.com/2021/04/04/banksy-everything-that-is-defo-or-may-or-may-not-be-true/">Banksy is now a collective</a> of artists who work together to produce thoughtful, provocative and subversive pieces and installations. The scope and secrecy of Banksy’s larger works require the cooperation of many individuals to orchestrate, direct and produce them. The “bemusement park” <a href="https://dismaland.co.uk/">Dismaland</a>(a sinister take on Disneyland-style theme parks), the <a href="https://walledoffhotel.com/questions.html">Walled Off Hotel</a> (Banksy’s hotel and commentary on the Israel/Palestine conflict) in Palestine and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Better_Out_Than_In">Better Out Than In</a> (Banksy’s New York-wide art residence) are examples of this.</p>
<p><a href="https://glasgowtransmission.wordpress.com/2021/04/04/banksy-everything-that-is-defo-or-may-or-may-not-be-true/">Investigators believe</a> that the collective includes many well-known and established artists. Bristol street artist <a href="https://www.john-doh.co.uk/">John D’oh</a> is among those rumoured to be involved, as is graffiti and street artist <a href="https://www.ame72.com/">James AME72 Ame</a> and perhaps even Massive Attack singer Robert Del Naja, among others. This is speculation. And again, this doesn’t matter.</p>
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<p>What matters is why Banksy has been in the courts recently. More important than the current defamation suit is the <a href="https://files.lbr.cloud/public/2021-05/banksy%20monkey%20trademark%20cancellation.pdf?PjoCw7xOfeYRlSa6qorTXr9hkL4QcK1Y=">2021 rejection of Banksy’s trademark by the EU</a>. This was the result of Banksy’s battle with street art greeting card producer <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/banksy-flower-thrower-lawsuit-full-colour-black-trademark-copyright-identity-b464781.html">Full Colour Black</a>, who used Banksy’s image of a Monkey wearing a placard without permission. The ruling uses Banksy’s own words in the decision, stating:</p>
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<p>The ruling notes that the street artist explicitly stated that the public is morally and legally free to reproduce, amend and otherwise use any copyright works forced upon them by third parties.</p>
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<p>Also, “<a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/banksy-trademark-full-colour-black-1971339">copyright is for losers</a>”, as Banksy said in his own 2017 book, Wall and Piece. </p>
<p>The application to declare the trademark invalid was filed in 2018. Banksy took great umbrage at this. In <a href="https://banksyexplained.com/gross-domestic-product-2019/">October of 2019</a>, he officially revealed the “homewares” brand Gross Domestic Product. The store is officially the website, but it debuted as a pop-up shop which couldn’t be entered.</p>
<p>A statement posted on the pop-up “storefront” declared that Gross Domestic Product was opened in direct response to the trademark cancellation filing and that selling Banksy “branded merchandise” was the best way to ensure ownership and control of the Banksy name. What’s important here is the clear interest in wanting to maintain control over what is and is not a Banksy and what Banksy artwork is associated with in commercial spaces.</p>
<h2>A team of professionals</h2>
<p>Banksy fakes are everywhere. The artist’s popularity and the fact that the bulk of Banksy’s work is stencils – which are easily reproduced by anyone with some talent, time and an Exacto knife – ensure fakes and copies will continue to be made. To combat this, Banksy has a cohort of trusted <a href="https://www.artnet.com/artists/banksy/dealers">art dealers for official Banskys</a> and an authentication service called <a href="https://pestcontroloffice.com/">Pest Control</a> that chases and legitimates the provenance of Banskys. </p>
<p>While it is entirely legitimate for any artist to want to maintain their unique identity and control over their artwork, it’s rare for an artist to maintain an entire staffed department dedicated to it. Not that graffiti writers don’t defend their copyrights.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-018-0179-4">Revok</a>, <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/futura-sures-north-face-copyright-infringement-1936871">Futura</a> and <a href="https://wwd.com/fashion-news/designer-luxury/street-artist-rime-jeremy-scott-moschino-copyright-lawsuit-settlement-10476118/">Rime</a> (to name a few) have defended their ownership of their graffiti and art in court. They hired lawyers, but they didn’t have a division dedicated to preempting and preventing infringement.</p>
<p>Pest Control is seemingly in place to maintain the authentic and unique perspective of Banksy’s works and to confirm they were officially produced by Banksy. This is a process often referred to as brand maintenance.</p>
<p>So, what’s the point of all this? Well, Banksy was an individual street artist at one point. This was probably Robin Gunningham. However, Banksy is now a collective of artists who work under the Banksy brand to produce the works that the Banksy authentication service, Pest Control, officially decrees as Banksys. Banksy is also a team of lawyers, art dealers and curators who ensure that only works officially associated with the Banksy brand get the certified Banksy seal of approval.</p>
<p>None of this is secret, but it’s not been publicised because being a litigious art collective equally as dedicated to producing art as engaging in brand maintenance doesn’t evoke the solo, clandestine, provocative raconteur image Banksy is going for. Having a team of lawyers making sure only real Banksys are labelled as such doesn’t do much for your street cred. Still, revealing this publicly likely won’t diminish interest in Banksy or affect the price people are willing to pay for monkey stencils or <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/oct/14/banksy-auction-record-shredded-painting-love-is-in-the-bin">self-destroying art</a>. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyson Mitman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The scale of his work and the control he has over his brand suggests that Banksy is not just one man anymore.Tyson Mitman, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, York St John UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073792023-06-23T14:52:54Z2023-06-23T14:52:54ZWhy a Banksy exhibition in Glasgow makes perfect sense<p>A new solo exhibition by Banksy, the UK’s most famous anonymous artist, has opened at the <a href="https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/venues/gallery-of-modern-art-goma">Gallery of Modern Art</a> (GoMA) in Glasgow – his first in 14 years.</p>
<p>The graffiti artist was drawn to exhibit in Glasgow ostensibly because of his interest in the symbolism of “Coneheid” – the red traffic cone permanently adorning the head of the Duke of Wellington statue that stands on a plinth outside GoMA. It is, Banksy says, his “favourite work of art in the UK”.</p>
<p>The show, <a href="https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/2/banksy-cut-and-run">Cut and Run</a>, spans the career of the artist who has been <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307594732_Bansky_What%27s_the_fuss_and_why_does_it_matter">described</a> as “notoriously cryptic, darkly humorous … a global phenomenon, a personality without a persona, a criminal without a record, and a paradox within the world of art.” </p>
<p>Originally influenced by the work of Xavier Pru – AKA father of stencil graffiti <a href="https://www.instagram.com/blekleratoriginal/">Blek le Rat</a> – Banksy has become a major player in the urban and contemporary art world, generating controversy and publicity through his distinctive and creative approach.</p>
<p>Popular with the public and highly valued by the art world, Banksy’s works convey powerful messages via simple but arresting images. His early transgressive artwork was seen by some as <a href="https://fitzrovianews.com/2015/06/24/banksy-is-not-a-disgrace-it-is-westminster-council-that-is-a-disgrace/">vandalism</a>, but for many others, Banksy is an <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/articles/why-is-banksy-so-popular-what-makes-him-a-national-treasure-weve-found-out">important counter voice</a> subverting the dominant narrative of capitalism.</p>
<p>The Bristol-based artist is a <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/articles/banksy-anti-war-activism">humanitarian and peace activist</a>, using his wealth to benefit many charitable causes. His artworks raise awareness of political iniquities and challenge social injustices, such as the <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/articles/new-banksy-mural-for-ukraine-2022">war in Ukraine</a>, <a href="https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/banksy-refugees/">refugee crises</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-50728590">homelessness</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/dec/21/banksy-copenhagen-regents-canal">global warming</a>, <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/articles/fk-the-police-the-theme-of-disorder-authority-in-banksys-prints">police violence</a>, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/art/banksy-in-palestine-a-look-at-the-street-artist-s-work-in-gaza-and-the-west-bank-1.1031618">apartheid</a>, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-banksy-mural-valentines-day-mascara-domestic-violence-180981644/">misogyny</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/oct/01/banksy-mural-clacton-racist">racism</a>. These are invariably set within a satirical, witty and humorous style that often confronts those in power. </p>
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<h2>The Glasgow-Banksy connection</h2>
<p>The red traffic cone has historically been placed on Wellington’s head by revellers to signify a great night out in the city and is now an iconic part of Glasgow’s heritage and marketing. It holds great meaning for Glaswegians in its anti-elitist and anti-establishment message, contributing to their social and cultural capital.</p>
<p>It’s also a reminder of the extent to which the expression of all forms of culture have been central to Glasgow’s regeneration over recent decades. First came the <a href="https://burrellcollection.com/the-collection-the-gift-to-glasgow-and-the-charity-that-cares-for-it/">Burrell Collection</a> in 1983, followed by the <a href="https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/glasgow-clydeside-garden-festival-history-14578391">International Garden Festival</a> in 1988, which built momentum towards a successful bid for the <a href="https://www.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/what-impact-has-the-1990-city-of-culture-had-on-glasgow-30-years-on-3000426">European City of Culture</a> in 1990 – a life-changing accolade for a city notorious for its poverty, violence and the lowest life expectancy in Europe. </p>
<p>But the connection between Banksy and the city goes much deeper. Both have a history of actively supporting humanitarian causes. Glasgow was the first anti-apartheid city to support Nelson Mandela with a street near the South African consulate renamed to honour him while he was still in prison. It also has a proud reputation for <a href="https://www.refuweegee.co.uk/">welcoming and defending refugees</a>, and <a href="https://www.refugeefestivalscotland.co.uk/organiser/glasgow-afghan-united/">supporting them</a> throughout the city.</p>
<p>Glasgow City Council has promoted street art by <a href="https://www.citycentremuraltrail.co.uk">commissioning and funding murals</a> around the city which have become an urban attraction. Glasgow also hosts the annual <a href="https://swg3.tv/events/2023/may/yardworks-festival-2023-6-may/">Yardworks Festival</a> which is an internationally renowned celebration of urban art.</p>
<p>Glaswegians are known for their friendliness and irreverent humour which resonates with Banksy’s works. The city has actively resourced artists as part of its cultural policy and has been <a href="https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/news/glasgow-named-uk-s-top-cultural-and-creative-city">named</a> the UK’s top cultural and creative city in a landmark report by the European Commission. The Banksy exhibition will undoubtedly boost Glasgow’s reputation as a centre of creative dynamism.</p>
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<h2>What to expect</h2>
<p>The exhibition starts with a re-creation of his studio space, featuring for the first time the stencils used to create many of his most famous works. Banksy has used these original stencils to create new versions of these works, including <a href="https://banksyexplained.com/kissing-coppers-2004/">Kissing Coppers</a>, which first appeared on a wall of the Prince Albert pub in Brighton in 2004.</p>
<p>It will also feature <a href="https://www.phillips.com/detail/banksy/NY010323/13">Banksquiat: Boy and Dog in Stop and Search</a>, Banksy’s homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat which was displayed on a wall near the Barbican in London as an unofficial collaboration with the art centre’s 2017 Basquiat show. A critique of the often-racist nature of police stop-and-search powers, it sold in May 2023 for an astonishing $9,724,500 (£7,646,277).</p>
<p>The infamous shredding mechanism of Banksy’s <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/series-girl-with-balloon/artwork-girl-with-balloon-signed-print">Girl with Balloon</a> is also showcased in the exhibition. In 2018, just after it was purchased at auction for £1 million, the canvas was passed through a secret shredder hidden inside the frame, leaving the bottom half in tatters with only the solitary red balloon untouched.</p>
<p>Three years later this iconic artwork was renamed <a href="https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-banksy/articles/banksys-love-is-in-the-bin-the-greatest-pr-stunt-of-all-time">Love in the Bin</a> and auctioned at Sotheby’s for a mind-bending £18,852,000.</p>
<p>A more recent work from his <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/banksy-created-seven-new-works-on-bombed-out-buildings-throughout-ukraine-see-them-here-2209409">Borodyanka Ukraine</a> series, a stencil of a young female gymnast performing a handstand, balancing on a damaged building in Ukraine, is also on show. While creating this work on a bombed-out building, a local resident remonstrated with Banksy and threatened to call the police.</p>
<p>Banksy has been in the vanguard a new art form that was birthed in street art but has matured to include a strategic use of different kinds of media – graffiti, film, performance, digital and social media – all of which have the capacity to maximise the impact of his message in real time with a global reach. </p>
<p>It feels significant that Banksy has chosen a once-blighted Scottish city that redeemed itself through the arts for his first show in more than a decade. A shared sense of humour, humanitarian values and a disregard for the establishment mean Banksy’s show will be well-received in Glasgow.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207379/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Blane Savage does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Glasgow welcomes the world’s most famous graffiti artist, drawn to the city by the much-loved ‘Coneheid’ Duke of Wellington statue outside his exhibition.Blane Savage, Lecturer in MA Creative Media Practice and BA(Hons) New Media Art, University of the West of ScotlandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1969952023-06-20T12:28:30Z2023-06-20T12:28:30ZGraffiti has undergone a massive shift in a few quick decades as street art gains social acceptance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519120/original/file-20230403-166-1bmapg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C22%2C3058%2C2014&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tagging, once considered vandalism, has gained cachet and economic value in the art world. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/E0r_BGagxRg">Ashim D’Silva for Unsplash.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Graffiti has become so mainstream in recent years that <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/press/sothebys-presents-first-of-its-kind-online-auction-celebrating-first-generation-of-new-york-graffiti-and-street-artists">auction houses</a>, <a href="https://museumofgraffiti.com">museums</a> and entire <a href="https://www.moca.org/exhibition/art-in-the-streets">art shows</a> cater to street art connoisseurs and collectors around the world. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPJIYfAMgHw">Images in the news</a> of young vandals responsible for marking walls have been replaced by sleek websites belonging to <a href="https://www.banksy.co.uk">global phenoms such as Banksy</a> and <a href="https://obeygiant.com">Shepard Fairey</a>. </p>
<p>In cities around the world, graffiti is now associated with “street artists” rather than violent street gangs. Today, many cities, from Pittsburgh to Pretoria, invite street artists to help brand neighborhoods that are being revitalized and gentrified as legitimately hip destinations for business owners, home buyers and influencers. Some up-and-coming neighborhoods in cities like <a href="https://www.smartcitiesdive.com/ex/sustainablecitiescollective/dakar-graffiti-festival-connects-artists-cultures-and-ideas/243591/">Dakar, Senegal</a>; <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/mexico/articles/a-street-art-tour-of-mexico-city/">Mexico City</a>; <a href="https://bsafest.com.au">Brisbane, Australia</a>; and <a href="https://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20220929000685">Seoul, South Korea</a> offer <a href="https://www.barcelonastreetstyletour.com">street art tours</a> and host <a href="https://streetartgoods.com/blogs/news/2022-travel-guide">graffiti festivals</a>. </p>
<p>The vibrantly colored walls in such places attract travelers to parts of town once deemed “sketchy.” These same neighborhoods are home to bookstores that carry graffiti coffee table books and universities that offer courses on graffiti art. <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=o1BDAykAAAAJ">I have taught</a> such courses myself. But it hasn’t always been this way. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An oversized mural painted on the side of a building and on the ground of a person at a desk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519123/original/file-20230403-1324-zqz518.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">5Pointz was a curated mural space for graffiti artists in Queens, New York. When the walls were unexpectedly painted over, the artists sued, resulting in a $6.7M judgment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Urt2tOrxSV8">Julie Ricard for Unsplash.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<h2>The history of tagging</h2>
<p>Before becoming an academic who teaches and <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo26835013.html">writes about graffiti</a>, I was a graffiti writer. I started tagging, or illegally writing my name — Cisco CBS — on surfaces across Los Angeles in the early 1990s. </p>
<p>At the time, local governments were cracking down on wall writers with anti-gang legislation, such as California’s 1988 <a href="https://law.justia.com/codes/california/2007/pen/186.20-186.33.html">Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention</a> Act, and a variety of “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/304465/">broken windows theory</a>” policing initiatives. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-019-09444-w">Law enforcement</a> didn’t seem to understand what the writing on walls meant or who was behind those cryptic images and personal monikers. Many residents couldn’t read or understand it either. Graffiti was interpreted as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-019-09444-w">gang-related</a> and, therefore, territorial and violent. Vandals were targeted with well-funded <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-019-09444-w">anti-graffiti task forces</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/vi_00011_1">police crackdowns</a> on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/opinion/los-angeles-gang-database.html">taggers like me</a>.</p>
<p>It was not enough, it seemed, to rightfully charge graffiti writers with vandalism. Rather, police and district attorneys, backed by a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/vi_00011_1">morally panicked</a> public, were making an example of graffiti writers, charging them with felonies, giving them <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-15-me-48864-story.html">six-figure fines</a> and sending them to prison for illicitly marking walls.</p>
<p>By the end of the 1990s, as the violent crime rate in cities across the U.S. <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/crime-trends-1990-2016">declined</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775819832315">gentrification</a> increased, new residents felt they could safely move into lower cost, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.13.080187.001021">“up-and-coming”</a> neighborhoods.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A mosaic of Our Lady of Guadelupe, a virgin saint. She wears a long coral robe and blue starry hooded cape, hands clasped in prayer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=963&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1210&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1210&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519124/original/file-20230403-22-okgs5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1210&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our Lady of Guadalupe symbolizes protection for those who lack power in society.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/9CiOeQQ7m9Y">Grant Whitty for Unsplash.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Local governments turned to <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/police-power-and-the-production-of-racial-boundaries/9780813569758">gang injunctions</a>, a restraining order targeting alleged gang members, to help <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0263775819832315">rid neighborhoods</a> of the remaining taggers and wall writers who were labeled <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/03/opinion/los-angeles-gang-database.html">gang members</a> and were painting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1215/01636545-1504930">political wall murals</a>. </p>
<p>The Guadalupe, or La Virgen, was used to signal the Chicano community’s <a href="https://www.interfaithamerica.org/los-angeles-virgin-guadalupe-street-art/">faith in God’s protection</a>, delivering them from the violence of the streets at the hands of gangs and police alike. But such murals, often done by local graffiti artists who were themselves deeply rooted in the Chicano community, were forced to make room for “street art” in the context of neighborhood change and urban redevelopment. </p>
<p>As real estate prices went up, <a href="https://boyleheightsbeat.com/la-virgen-de-guadalupe-powerful-throughout-generations/">the Guadalupe murals came down</a>, symbolizing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2021.1985952">local displacement</a> by gentrification. While physical displacement was being experienced firsthand by long-standing residents, the transformation of the walls in these communities symbolized a broader cultural change. By the early 2000s, politically neutral <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/arts/design/02fair.html">street art images</a> replaced depictions of <a href="https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/inclusive-public-art-and-racial-justice">social struggle</a>, <a href="https://www.themcla.org/murals/read-between-lines">Chicano/a history</a>, and <a href="https://boyleheightsbeat.com/disappearing-murals-erase-boyle-heights-history/">community life</a>.</p>
<h2>Graffiti made legit</h2>
<p>By 2011, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles hosted the first-ever museum survey of street art and graffiti. At this time, I was finishing my dissertation on the “<a href="https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/179789">Changing Face of Wall Space</a>,” which explored graffiti in the nearby neighborhoods of Echo Park and Silver Lake. In it, I analyzed how graffiti writers such as <a href="https://eyelost.com">Eyeone</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/mearonehd">Mear</a> and <a href="http://www.cachickenart.com/about-cache">Cache</a> were navigating the legal, social, economic and cultural shift taking place in Los Angeles. In the midst of this struggle over wall space and aesthetics, many of my friends were invited inside to tag the walls of the <a href="https://artinthestreets.org/about">Art in the Streets</a> exhibition. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two young people talk together next to giant black and white drawings pinned on the walls behind them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519130/original/file-20230403-1249-b0f4c4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">As graffiti goes mainstream, it appears to legitimize spaces where it is found – museums, galleries and up-and-coming neighborhoods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/niIDjV2uSuk">Casio 1179 for Unsplash.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just outside the museum gallery, the newly branded Arts District soon welcomed muralists and graffiti writers from around the world. These were the same streets where many of us had been chased, beaten and arrested by police for doing what was now fashionable and profitable. Los Angeles, like many cities in the U.S., had the <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/Uneasy-Peace/">lowest homicide rate</a> in more than a generation. In this new context, it became more difficult to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480606065908">connect graffiti to the gangs</a>: Gang violence just wasn’t there. Graffiti had made a <a href="https://lataco.com/whitewashing-murals-graffiti">comeback</a>, arriving inside the Trojan Horse of legitimate street art.</p>
<h2>Urban blight or community history</h2>
<p>Self-described <a href="https://www.latimes.com/projects/chicano-moratorium/chicano-moratorium-catalytic-moment-la-art/">critical Chicana muralists</a>, such as <a href="http://www.judybaca.com/artist/">Judith Baca,</a> and <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/pachucos">pachuco</a> graffiti writers such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_%22Chaz%22_Boj%C3%B3rquez">Chaz Bojórquez</a>, had been painting on walls around Los Angeles as early as the 1970s. These wall artists’ styles were often maligned by city leaders, business owners and wealthy Anglos. But something changed when these inner city aesthetics became the mainstream backdrop for arts communities. </p>
<p>No longer does the writing on the walls signal blight and disorder. Rather, graffiti increasingly tells the story of urban change. It took seeing it as “safe” in the form of “street art” for people to start paying attention to its visual power.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196995/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stefano Bloch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the last decade, some graffiti writers have moved from outlaw taggers to sought-after artists.Stefano Bloch, Associate Professor of Geography, Development & Environment, University of ArizonaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2041582023-04-26T16:10:36Z2023-04-26T16:10:36ZThe power of anonymity: as Twitter celebrity Dril reveals his identity, an Elena Ferrante expert explains what he’s lost<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521896/original/file-20230419-28-mafgb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C22%2C2968%2C1976&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elena Ferrante chooses to write under a pseudonym to conceal her identity. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/split-croatia-january-15-2023-stack-2253835925">Jelena990/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Scrolling through US comedian and social media phenomenon <a href="https://twitter.com/dril">Dril’s Twitter</a> account can be a confusing experience for those, like me, who don’t share the same references to “Weird Twitter”, videogaming, fast food, obsessive branding and 1990s popular culture.</p>
<p>“Jarring combinations of the stupefyingly mundane and the elaborately scatological” characterise some of Dril’s most liked tweets, according to the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/rabbit-holes/the-cracked-wisdom-of-dril">New Yorker</a>. The tweets display a fascination with dog poop, genitals and onanism. They also disregard basic rules of spelling, punctuation and grammar, and frequently use outrageously bad language.</p>
<p>Every so often, however, you find a little gem of caustic humour that gives you a hint of what caused Dril’s success. <a href="https://twitter.com/dril/status/1641102955402387456">For example</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Sad to see people betraying their friends for no reason. couldnt be me. i only betray my friends when it gives me an Advantage.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>After 15 years of posting anonymously, Dril recently revealed his identity. He is a 35-year-old man named Paul Dochney. In an <a href="https://www.theringer.com/tech/2023/4/12/23673003/dril-twitter-interview-profile-identity">interview</a> with The Ringer, he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>People need to grow up. Just accept that I’m not like Santa Claus. I am not like a magic elf who posts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This reference to Santa and the fairytale realm alludes to the belief that humans are attracted to lies – that we would rather perpetuate the fabulous illusion of a magical world than search for the truth.</p>
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<h2>Anonymity and authorial power</h2>
<p>As an expert in the Italian novelist <a href="https://theconversation.com/global/topics/elena-ferrante-20079">Elena Ferrante</a>, this reminds me of her 2019 novel <a href="https://www.europaeditions.com/book/9781609455910/the-lying-life-of-adults">The Lying Life of Adults</a>. Ferrante is another contemporary celebrity who hides her identity behind a pen name. Despite her anonymity, her Neapolitan novels have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.</p>
<p>In The Lying Life of Adults – recently adapted as a <a href="https://www.netflix.com/ie/title/81252203">TV series for Netflix</a> – the protagonist Giovanna is a young teenager whose world is crushed by the discovery that her father has concealed substantial truths about his past.</p>
<p>The object Ferrante has chosen to symbolise the desirability of falsehood is a bracelet, a shiny heirloom whose original ownership is unclear but which encapsulates feelings of greed and hatred – much like Frodo’s ring in Lord of the Rings and Voldemort’s Horcruxes in the Harry Potter franchise, which cause many people harm. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="statue of Anonymous in a leafy autumn park. The statue is a hooded figure sat with a pen in their hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521898/original/file-20230419-28-lrmy7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521898/original/file-20230419-28-lrmy7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521898/original/file-20230419-28-lrmy7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521898/original/file-20230419-28-lrmy7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521898/original/file-20230419-28-lrmy7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521898/original/file-20230419-28-lrmy7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/521898/original/file-20230419-28-lrmy7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Statue of Anonymous in Budapest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/budapest-hungary-october-2019-statue-anonymous-1604136883">Dmitrii Sakharov/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>In 2016, <a href="https://lithub.com/have-italian-scholars-figured-out-the-identity-of-elena-ferrante/">the Italian journalist</a> Claudio Gatti used Ferrante’s financial records to ascertain and publish her true identity. But unlike Dril, <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/online/2016/10/02/elena-ferrante-an-answer/">when she was unmasked</a>, Ferrante invoked her right to remain anonymous and continued to publish her work under a pseudonym – to the huge relief of her fans.</p>
<p>In her latest collection of essays, <a href="https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2022/july/margins-pleasures-reading-and-writing-elena-ferrante">In the Margins: On the Pleasures of Reading and Writing</a>, Ferrante uses another precious object – this time an aquamarine ring rather than a bracelet – to explain how changeable reality is. As much as she tries to capture its essence, that shiny ring shifts and changes. </p>
<p>Each object, like all living things, is a tangle of stories, emotions, ideas. Once we attempt to catch its mutable shape in writing, it will seem “inevitably false” to us. That doesn’t matter, however, as long as the author keeps striving to find a written form for that “tangle”, in the knowledge that the narrator and writer are also “enmeshed” in it. </p>
<p>In choosing anonymity, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-39367-0_5">I believe</a> that Ferrante is alluding to a digital notion of authorship that is dispersed and collaborative – in which a disembodied author’s identity is shaped by dialogue with the world around them.</p>
<p>It is this “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/21/elena-ferrante-god-didnt-make-good-impression">absolute openness to the other</a>, to any living being, to everything endowed with the breath of life”, and ultimately to the more-than-human world, that explains Ferrante’s success on the global scene.</p>
<h2>Anonymous holds a mirror</h2>
<p>This is also the reason why readers and fans often prefer to remain in the dark. As long as the changeable identity of the author is not pinned down to an actual person, it will ring true. Their voice will contain the echoes of our own voice and their face will be a mirror in which we will see our own reflection.</p>
<p>To any artist, remaining anonymous may afford unprecedented creative freedom along with an ability to bear witness to the truth or broadcast a political message. Graffiti artist <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/banksy-7818">Banksy</a> is a case in point.</p>
<p>The Bristol muralist is one of the most valued contemporary artists, despite the accusations of vandalism sometimes levelled at him. Recently, <a href="https://theconversation.com/banksy-in-ukraine-how-his-defiant-new-works-offer-hope-194952">his powerful artwork in Kyiv</a> has brought attention to the trauma inflicted to the Ukrainian population during the Russian invasion. His art speaks for itself.</p>
<p>We don’t need to know whose hand guides the pen or the brush – or who delivers Santa’s gifts. As Ferrante writes in her 2003 collection of non-fiction texts, <a href="https://www.europaeditions.com/book/9781609452926/frantumaglia">Frantumaglia</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I woke up and the gifts were there … True miracles are the ones whose makers will never be known.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As the mask is removed, Dril might gain a closer connection with his audience. But he will lose the magical aura that anonymity had crafted for him.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to restore paragraphs that were mistakenly lost during the final review stage.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204158/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Enrica Maria Ferrara does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fans often prefer to remain in the dark about the identity of their favourite authors and artistsEnrica Maria Ferrara, Teaching Fellow, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1953382022-11-24T18:34:56Z2022-11-24T18:34:56ZUkraine recap: targeting power supply earns Russia new title of ‘state sponsor of terror’ as winter begins to bite<p>Temperatures are falling steadily across Ukraine. The UK’s Met Office forecasts light (but pretty cold) rain in Kyiv for the next day or two followed by snow, snow, snow, as the mercury drops steadily into minus numbers next week. </p>
<p>Large areas of Ukraine, including the capital, are now without power much of the time. And still Moscow persists with its strategy of targeting Ukraine’s power supply. It’s hard to argue – as the Kremlin continues to insist – that these are military targets.</p>
<p>Yesterday a two-day old baby was killed when what have been reported to be Russian missiles hit a maternity ward in Zaporizhzhia. The region is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and has come under particularly bombardment recently. </p>
<p>The plant itself has been under Russian occupation since March, but the surrounding area is bitterly contested. It is one of four regions annexed by Russia at the end of September, but significant areas have been wrested back by Ukraine’s counteroffensive. </p>
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<p>It is, of course, a war crime to deliberately target civilians or civilian infrastructure. But power facilities are a grey area as they could be seen as legitimate military targets. And, to be fair, this has been a tactic used time and time again during wars in the 20th and 21st century. German Zeppelins targeted electricity supplies in the first world war and the Germans also targeted the Soviet grid in a bid to regain the initiative after Stalingrad in world war two. The US has done the same in both Vietnam and, more recently, Iraq.</p>
<p>But the EU parliament has used Russia’s attacks on power stations, schools and hospitals to justify its decision this week to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism – a distinction hitherto only afforded to Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria. </p>
<p>“Today, the European parliament recognised Russia as a terrorist state,” the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky declared in response, adding; “And then Russia proved that all this is true by using 67 missiles against our infrastructure, our energy grid, and ordinary people.” </p>
<p>Scott Lucas, an expert in international security at University College Dublin, <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-eu-parliament-names-russia-a-state-sponsor-of-terrorism-but-it-wont-stop-the-missiles-195309">believes that</a> the EU’s move will have few real-world consequences. Russia is already subject to a harsh regime of sanctions, which is one of the penalties that comes with the European parliament’s decision. But the move will lend weight to the arguments of western governments when it comes to continuing to provide huge packages of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine in the face of a cost-of-living crisis biting pretty much everywhere.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-eu-parliament-names-russia-a-state-sponsor-of-terrorism-but-it-wont-stop-the-missiles-195309">Ukraine war: EU parliament names Russia a 'state sponsor of terrorism' – but it won't stop the missiles</a>
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<p><strong><em>This is our weekly recap of expert analysis of the Ukraine conflict.</em></strong>
<em>The Conversation, a not-for-profit newsgroup, works with a wide range of academics across its global network to produce evidence-based analysis. Get these recaps in your inbox every Thursday. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/ukraine-recap-114?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+Newsletter+Ukraine+Recap+2022+Mar&utm_content=WeeklyRecapTop">Subscribe here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>Russia’s bombardment of Ukrainian infrastructure appears to have become Moscow’s default strategy in the face of significant military setbacks over the past two months or so. We recently reported that Ukraine had reoccupied the city of Kherson, important both strategically and in terms of morale. It’s the capital of one of four regions annexed by Russia in September. </p>
<p>Military strategist, Frank Ledwidge of the University of Portsmouth, says the victory in Kherson opens the way up for an eventual advance on Crimea, which – <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-after-recapture-of-kherson-the-conflict-is-poised-at-the-gates-of-crimea-195025">he writes</a> – is seen by both sides as Russia’s “centre of gravity”, the key to the war.</p>
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<p>This will be a far cry from Kyiv’s counteroffensives so far. As Ledwidge notes, unlike the rest of the occupied territories in Ukraine, most Russians agree that Crimea – with its majority Russian population – is legitimately a Russian territory. It has also, over several centuries and various conflicts including the second world war, proved a hard nut to crack. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-after-recapture-of-kherson-the-conflict-is-poised-at-the-gates-of-crimea-195025">Ukraine war: after recapture of Kherson the conflict is poised at the gates of Crimea</a>
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<h2>Wartime economies</h2>
<p>One aspect of the war we haven’t focused on specifically up to now has been how Ukraine’s economy has held up after nine months of conflict (something gently pointed out to us by a reader a couple of weeks ago). Like pretty much everywhere else, Ukraine found the COVID-19 pandemic very challenging, but bounced back strongly in 2021 recording GDP growth of 3.2%. But the war has dropped the economy off a cliff. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497249/original/file-20221124-13-z7ar2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bar chart showing effect war on Ukraine's economy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497249/original/file-20221124-13-z7ar2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497249/original/file-20221124-13-z7ar2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497249/original/file-20221124-13-z7ar2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497249/original/file-20221124-13-z7ar2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=279&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497249/original/file-20221124-13-z7ar2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497249/original/file-20221124-13-z7ar2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497249/original/file-20221124-13-z7ar2o.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Bar chart showing effect war on Ukraine’s economy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">State Statistics Service of Ukraine</span></span>
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<p>Ukrainian scholar, Dmitriy Sergeyev – a professor of economics at Bocconi University in Milan – highlights the way the war has affected some sectors more than others. Some industries are relatively easy to relocate. For example, Ukraine’s burgeoning IT sector has endured relatively well, but steel production and other heavy industry have taken an enormous hit. For Ukraine’s massively important agricultural sector, the decision to renew the grain deal will bring in welcome export revenues, which – <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-how-the-economy-has-kept-running-at-a-time-of-bitter-conflict-195312">he says</a> – may even be enough to plant for the next season. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-how-the-economy-has-kept-running-at-a-time-of-bitter-conflict-195312">Ukraine war: how the economy has kept running at a time of bitter conflict</a>
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<p>The outlook for the Russian economy, meanwhile, “bodes poorly for Vladimir Putin’s ability to fund Russia’s war in Ukraine,” according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal, which adds that “mobilisation, sanctions and falling energy prices” are hurting Russia badly. </p>
<p>Alexander Hill, a Canada-based scholar with a particular interest in Russian affairs, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-russian-economy-is-defying-and-withstanding-western-sanctions-194119">reports in The Conversation that</a> mobilisation has hit Russian industry pretty hard, causing labour shortages in key areas. </p>
<p>But, writes Hill, a bumper harvest has allowed Russia to export huge amounts of grain, while the replacement of western companies which pulled out of Russia after the start of the war with new Russian enterprises. (McDonald’s, for example, has been replaced with a burger chain called <em>Vkusno i tochka</em> – “Tasty, full stop”). Inflation is falling and pensions, salaries and the minimum wage are reportedly keeping pace. Hill believes the west may have underestimated Russia’s ability to cope with sanctions.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-russian-economy-is-defying-and-withstanding-western-sanctions-194119">How the Russian economy is defying and withstanding western sanctions</a>
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<h2>Banksy in Ukraine</h2>
<p>One of the themes that has run through reporting from Ukraine since the invasion began in February is the buoyant morale among Ukrainians, whether civilians or military. On the home front, particularly, this has been underpinned by an explosion of artwork drawing attention to, and reinforcing, the resilience of Ukrainian people and culture.</p>
<p>Now it seems that Banksy, the Scarlet Pimpernel of graffiti artists, has been doing his bit to help. Earlier this month, Banksy posted a picture to his Instagram of a gymnast doing a handstand, painted on the side of a building devastated by shelling in Borodyanka in the Kyiv region.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/Ck1bqL6MsMu","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>He later confirmed that he was responsible for six other artworks in Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine, including one which depicted Vladimir Putin being thrown by a child in a judo match. War historian Rachel Kerr of King’s College London <a href="https://theconversation.com/banksy-in-ukraine-how-his-defiant-new-works-offer-hope-194952">has the story</a>.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/banksy-in-ukraine-how-his-defiant-new-works-offer-hope-194952">Banksy in Ukraine: how his defiant new works offer hope</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p><em>Ukraine Recap is available as a weekly email newsletter. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/ukraine-recap-114?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+Newsletter+Ukraine+Recap+2022+Mar&utm_content=WeeklyRecapBottom">Click here to get our recaps directly in your inbox.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195338/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Some of the key articles from our coverage of the war in Ukraine over the past week.Jonathan Este, Senior International Affairs Editor, Associate EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1654252021-08-09T15:04:11Z2021-08-09T15:04:11ZAfghanistan’s ArtLords use concrete barricades as canvases to promote social change<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414810/original/file-20210805-21-1nchy4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=136%2C71%2C4074%2C2457&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Residents in Kabul, Afghanistan walk past artists from the ArtLords organization as they paint a mural of journalists who were killed in 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Art has the power to provoke enhanced awareness of social issues that can lead to social change — not only publicly commissioned works, but graffiti-esque street art too.</p>
<p>Two of the best examples of <a href="https://humanrights.ca/exhibition/artivism">what’s known as “artivism”</a> are the sometimes whimsical, often sardonic stencilled murals of <a href="https://www.streetartbio.com/artists/banksy/">British street artist Banksy</a> and the installations created by <a href="https://www.artlords.co">Afghanistan’s ArtLords</a> on the concrete blast walls that now surround facilities commonly targeted by terrorists.</p>
<p>Established by two friends in Kabul in 2014, ArtLords in its name alone provides an ironic challenge to the warlords, drug lords and international <a href="https://groveatlantic.com/book/lords-of-poverty/">lords of poverty</a> who wield so much power in Afghanistan. </p>
<p>The ArtLords mission statement says “the organization is a grassroots movement of artists and volunteers motivated by the desire to pave the way for social transformation and behavioural change through employing the soft power of art and culture.”</p>
<p>One of ArtLords’ first installations was the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/murals-message-afghans-paint-social-change-kabul-n428931">“We are Watching You”</a> mural of two eyes. The mural’s accompanying text states: “Corruption is not hidden from God and the peoples’ gaze.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A segment on ArtLords on Al Jazeera.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Daringly provocative, the mural provided clear commentary on the country’s endemic corruption. In an annual perception survey conducted by the <a href="https://asiafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019_Afghan_Survey_Full-Report.pdf">Asia Foundation</a>, corruption has consistently been identified as a key social challenge in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>In 2019, for example, 81 per cent of respondents from all over the country cited corruption as a major social problem, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/survey-afghan-people-afghanistan-2019">with 68 per cent saying corruption had affected their daily lives</a>.</p>
<p>The ArtLords mural thus gave “visual voice” to popular sentiment, putting on notice those benefiting from widespread corruption.</p>
<h2>Brutalist transformation</h2>
<p>Over the past 15 years, there’s been a transformation of Afghanistan’s urban spaces because of the preponderance of suicide bombers. They’re using ever more deadly vehicle-borne bombs and magnetic explosive devices to launch orchestrated terrorist attacks on government ministries, embassies, Shiite mosques, shops and restaurants.</p>
<p>These facilities are now ringed <a href="https://www.hesco.com">with barricades</a> and the metres-high blast walls. Normal city streetscapes have disappeared behind these brutalist structures, with streets around ministries and embassies transformed into oppressive concrete canyons.</p>
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<img alt="A man rides his bicycle walks past blast walls in Kabul." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414821/original/file-20210805-19-1buwvor.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In this 2017 photo, an Afghan man rides his bicycle walks past blast walls in Kabul, Afghanistan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photos/Rahmat Gul)</span></span>
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<p>These blast walls serve as canvases for the ArtLords.</p>
<p>In addition to anti-corruption messages, Artlords’ visually striking street art addresses a range of socially relevant themes. Some murals commemorate activists killed in the country’s internecine conflict. Others promote public health messages, the importance of education, women’s rights, disability or the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. </p>
<p>Others, such as a Banksy-like stencil of a man pushing a wheelbarrow laden with a large red Valentine’s Day heart or a woman bearing a similar heart on her head, suggest love in the midst of chaos. A mural paying homage to a humble street sweeper bears a striking resemblance to similar tributes to our pandemic-era health-care workers. Many of the murals evoke empathy or compassion, sentiments in scarce supply in war-torn Afghanistan. </p>
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<img alt="An artist wearing a hat paints the portrait of a man on a mural." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414812/original/file-20210805-27-s9pnde.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">An artist from ArtLords paints an image of AFP’s slain chief Afghanistan photographer, Shah Marai, who was killed in 2018 in a suicide bombing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Massoud Hossaini)</span></span>
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<p>In addition to providing surprising bits of colour in what are otherwise drab and forbidding urban spaces, the murals promote social conversation and contribute to critical thinking.</p>
<p>It’s not unusual to see Afghan citizens standing in front of the murals talking about them and discussing current events. Although some of the works have irked the Afghan authorities — one mural was whitewashed by the National Directorate of Security — the murals and their messages have been embraced by the citizenry. The blast walls of several embassies also bear non-political ArtLords murals. </p>
<h2>Murals across Afghanistan</h2>
<p>In advance of a November 2020 donor funding conference, ArtLords was commissioned by the conference organizers to paint murals in all the country’s major cities.</p>
<p>A timelapse video of the murals’ creation captures the energy and enthusiasm of the ArtLords work. In the murals, a soldier’s Kalashnikov assault rifle is replaced by a pencil, a symbol of the possibility of a better future for the country. </p>
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<img alt="A mural of a soldier holding a large pencil in place of a gun." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414830/original/file-20210805-17-9tgyzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=579&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Artlords mural.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">U.S. Institute of Peace</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Since its founding, ArtLords has painted more than 2,000 blast-wall murals in 19 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. The movement has grown to 53 employees and artists, with offices in seven Afghan provinces. </p>
<p>In addition to its blast-wall street art, ArtLords has launched an art gallery, an arts and culture magazine and a coffee shop. In July 2021, ArtLords conducted an online workshop for artists, civil society activists and human rights defenders in the South Asia region to share its experiences in reclaiming civic space and promoting social change. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A video about Artlords by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The government of Afghanistan also recently presented a large ArtLords-commissioned painting to the United Nations Secretary-General. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202106/1227390.shtml">“The Unseen Afghanistan”</a> is a joyous and colourful work, its paint mixed with soil from all of the country’s provinces. The human figures in the painting depict Afghanistan’s mix of ethnicities. The central figure is a representation of a child who had a leg amputated when he was eight months old after being shot in a battle between the Taliban and Afghan government forces. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1409590925567873026"}"></div></p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRmfXicrCko">A widely circulated video </a> shows him at age five happily dancing on a new prosthetic leg. The painting, to be hung in the halls of the UN Secretariat, demonstrates hope for a peaceful and similarly exuberant future for Afghanistan and its people. </p>
<p>“Protecting the Gains” was the theme of the recent meeting of the government and donor <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/co-chairs-statement-joint-coordination-and-monitoring-board-jcmb-meeting">Joint Coordination Monitoring Board</a>. </p>
<p>But at the same time, a resurgent Taliban has greatly expanded areas under its control and has brought fighting to some of Afghanistan’s major cities. </p>
<p>Escalating conflict has displaced some <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/31/world/asia/afghanistan-migration-taliban.html">330,000 Afghans</a>, with at least 30,000 people fleeing the country each week. Rather than the hope represented by much of the Artlords work, there is fear that much of Afghanistan’s hard-won progress over the past 20 years may soon be reversed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grant Curtis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Afghanistan’s Artlords are using art on blast walls to advocate for social change and to stand in contrast to the country’s war lords, drug lords and corruption.Grant Curtis, PhD Candidate Political Science, Deputy Director Centre for the Study of Security and Development, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1647242021-07-19T13:29:47Z2021-07-19T13:29:47ZDamien Hirst’s ‘The Currency’: what we’ll discover when this NFT art project is over<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411873/original/file-20210719-13-c0koe1.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hirst Lord of the Treasury. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/china-chenghai-february-23-2019-damien-1350961955">Marusya Chaika</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>English artist Damien Hirst’s latest project, “<a href="https://hypebeast.com/2021/7/damien-hirst-the-currency-nft-heni">The Currency</a>”, is an artwork in two forms. Its physical form is 10,000 unique hand-painted A4 sheets covered in colourful dots. In the same way as paper money, each sheet includes a holographic image of Hirst, a signature, a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/microdots">microdot</a> and – in place of a serial number – a small individual message. </p>
<p>The second part of the artwork is that each of these hand-painted sheets has a corresponding <a href="https://theconversation.com/nfts-explained-what-they-are-why-rock-stars-are-using-them-and-why-theyre-selling-for-millions-of-dollars-156389">NFT (non-fungible token)</a>. NFTs are digital certificates of ownership which exist on the secure online ledgers that are known as blockchains. </p>
<p>The way that “The Currency” works is that collectors will not be buying the physical artwork immediately. Instead, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-14/damien-hirst-the-currency-artworks-10-000-pieces-for-2-000-each">they will pay</a> US$2,000 (£1,458) for the NFT and then have a year to decide whether they want the digital or the physical version. Once the collector selects one, the other will be destroyed. </p>
<p>So what is going on here, and what does it tell us about art and money? </p>
<h2>What is money?</h2>
<p>Hirst has essentially created a variety of money, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEsVJJy1od4&t=135s">on the rationale</a> that money is primarily a social phenomenon built around faith and trust. In doing so, he touches on an interesting paradox. “Non-fungible” means that a token is a once-off. This is to contrast it with fungible items like dollars, which are all the same and can be traded like-for-like – the same way as many cryptocurrencies such as ether or dogecoin. Fungibility is one of the <a href="https://www.stlouisfed.org/education/economic-lowdown-podcast-series/episode-9-functions-of-money#:%7E:text=The%20characteristics%20of%20money%20are,%2C%20limited%20supply%2C%20and%20acceptability.">essential properties</a> of any currency according to traditional economics.</p>
<p>But is it what it seems? By creating 10,000 individual units that mimic real currencies, Hirst is highlighting with the unique markings of each work that even fungible currencies have some non-fungible properties – for example, most currencies will have different serial numbers and issue dates on each note. This helps to underline that money is a concept that becomes ever harder to pin down when you look at it more closely. </p>
<p>The work further contests our sense of what money is by raising questions about another of its essential properties – that of a medium of exchange. A work by a famous artist would rarely be thought of as a medium of exchange. Instead, it would normally be treated as a scarce store of value, like gold. </p>
<p>Hirst is asking if it really has to be this way. By producing 10,000 works in the style of a currency, he is clearly having fun by showing how money is malleable and can shapeshift depending on the context. </p>
<h2>What is art?</h2>
<p>What matters most, physical or digital art? Hirst is not the first to ask this question in the context of NFTs. A few months ago, a company called Injective Protocol <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56335948">bought a 2006 work</a> by Banksy called Morons, which satirises an art auction, for US$95,000. It then burned the piece live on Twitter so that only a digital version survived on an NFT. It then sold the NFT for US$380,000. </p>
<p>I have <a href="https://theconversation.com/nft-art-the-bizarre-world-where-burning-a-banksy-can-make-it-more-valuable-156605">previously discussed</a> how the people at Injective had cleverly decided to play on our preference for the physical over the digital. By destroying the physical version and then claiming the NFT signature would stand in for the artwork, it drew attention to the benefit that an NFT cannot be destroyed by vandals such as themselves. </p>
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<p>At a time when there had been an <a href="https://theconversation.com/nfts-are-much-bigger-than-an-art-fad-heres-how-they-could-change-the-world-159563">explosion in demand</a> for NFT art and other collectibles, with <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-token-sale-christies-to-auction-its-first-blockchain-backed-digital-only-artwork-155738">some trading hands</a> for millions of pounds, this was a comment on the persistent question concerning whether NFTs really imply ownership. For many, the puzzle is why someone would feel that owning a digital version rather than an “actual” artwork constitutes ownership at all.</p>
<p>Clearly, Hirst gets it. He is approaching the question of ownership by distilling it down to its purest economic and commercial form – literally the artwork as money. When people express puzzlement at NFTs, really what they mean is how can you spend money on something so valueless? The idea that digital ownership is equivalent to physical ownership is still unacceptable to the majority of people. </p>
<p>What Hirst is highlighting is how the “puzzle” is easily solved by recognising that there are two communities interested in his artwork: those who value his traditional physical pieces and those who value his NFT pieces. He does this, I think, to show how value never makes sense when it is removed from the cultural community that has ascribed that value to it. Each community is a mystery to the other. Zoom out, however, and they are closer than they imagine, ultimately bonding as fans of Hirst.</p>
<p>For most people, the puzzle is still the NFT community. This culture is populated by passionate blockchain enthusiasts and crypto-natives, young people who grew up with cryptocurrencies. For them, a blockchain wallet stores their value. This can mean fungible currencies like bitcoin or ether, but also, more and more, their art collection. These collections represent their tastes and interests and tell us a little about who they are, and what they value. </p>
<p>A particularly clear-cut example of this would be someone who, after the year has passed, decides to claim the NFT of Hirst’s work and reject the physical version. What better move to signal commitment to a blockchain future? When the year is up and we see how many people chose to keep the NFT, it might even give an interesting indication of to what extent this new digital generation is becoming the dominant one.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164724/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Dylan-Ennis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Make 10,000 sheets of coloured dots and give them each a corresponding NFT, and what do you have?Paul Dylan-Ennis, Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Management Information Systems, University College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1566052021-03-05T15:02:23Z2021-03-05T15:02:23ZNFT art: the bizarre world where burning a Banksy can make it more valuable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388044/original/file-20210305-13-97kfj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=28%2C40%2C903%2C663&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Banksy print that was burnt.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/eddiedangerous/3130450607/in/photolist-5LCnUk-5LCnY2-48pza9">Flickr/eddiedangerous</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A blockchain company has bought a piece of Banksy artwork and burnt it. But instead of destroying the value of the art, they claim to have made it more valuable, because it was sold as a <a href="https://opensea.io/assets/0xdfef5ac9745d24db881fef3937eab1d2471dc2c7/1">piece of blockchain art</a>.</p>
<p>The company behind the stunt, called Injective Protocol, bought the screen print from a <a href="https://www.taglialatellagalleries.com/artists/banksy?view=slider#21">New York gallery</a>. They then live-streamed its burning on the Twitter account BurntBanksy.</p>
<p>But why would anyone buy a piece of art just to burn it? Understanding the answer requires us to delve into the tricky world of <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-token-sale-christies-to-auction-its-first-blockchain-backed-digital-only-artwork-155738">blockchain or “NFT” art</a>. </p>
<p>It blends the niche subculture of cryptocurrencies with long running philosophical questions about the nature of art. No wonder people have difficulty explaining it all. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/C4wm-p_VFh0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Burning a Banksy.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At its simplest, a NFT artwork is made up of two things. First, a piece of art, usually digital, but sometimes physical. Second there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-token-sale-christies-to-auction-its-first-blockchain-backed-digital-only-artwork-155738">a digital token</a> representing the art, also created by the artist. </p>
<h2>Non-fungible tokens</h2>
<p>In the past, artists might have provided a signature or the gallery a certificate to authenticate an artwork. This is a method of verification or proof to show this really was a painting by, say, Matisse or Klimt. </p>
<p>In 2008 the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-bitcoins-price-at-an-all-time-high-and-how-is-its-value-determined-152616">creator of Bitcoin</a>, Satoshi Nakamoto, introduced a new method of verification <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-blockchain-all-hype-a-financier-and-supply-chain-expert-discuss-106584">known as the blockchain</a>. Blockchains were historically used to record financial transactions, but they’re pretty malleable. These days, you can find everything from collectable games to new methods of finance – all living on blockchains. </p>
<p>The most important feature of blockchain for art is that blockchains are impossible to change. An artist can provide a proof authenticating an artwork which can never be altered. This proof can then be sold at auction passing it from artist to collector, making blockchain art highly liquid.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nfts-explained-what-they-are-why-rock-stars-are-using-them-and-why-theyre-selling-for-millions-of-dollars-156389">NFTs explained: what they are, why rock stars are using them, and why they're selling for millions of dollars</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>What collectors buy are “non-fungible” tokens (NFTs). Non-fungible means either one or a limited run is ever made. NFT tokens cannot be replicated. </p>
<p>In some cases the art will be stored on the blockchain, but more commonly the NFT will reference an external artwork. While many people might not consider this “owning art”, it’s clear many collectors do. The implication is NFT artworks are scarce and therefore valuable. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A cartoon cat with a Pop-Tart for a torso, flying through space, and leaving a rainbow trail behind" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388039/original/file-20210305-21-133rboe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/388039/original/file-20210305-21-133rboe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388039/original/file-20210305-21-133rboe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388039/original/file-20210305-21-133rboe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388039/original/file-20210305-21-133rboe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388039/original/file-20210305-21-133rboe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/388039/original/file-20210305-21-133rboe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nyan cat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyan_Cat#/media/File:Nyan_cat_250px_frame.PNG">Nyan cat screenshot.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Newcomers to an NFT marketplace might be struck by the low quality of the artwork. With no barrier to entry, everyone is free to become a blockchain artist – and it shows. But this is a naïve reading of what is going on. Much blockchain art is sought after for reasons beyond aesthetics.</p>
<p>For instance, many NFTs, such as Cryptopunks, are sought after because of their age, like blockchain antiques. The most expensive Cryptopunk <a href="https://www.one37pm.com/grind/money/most-expensive-nfts">sold for US$1,608,032</a>(£1,161,481) and it is, on the surface, little more than crudely-drawn pixel art. </p>
<p>Cryptopunks are the oldest NFTs and it’s the data about them – their “metadata” – such as their longevity on the blockchain, that is desired. You have to look past the art and look at the medium to get what is going on. </p>
<p>Other NFTs, such as the Nyan Cat meme which sold for US$600,000, are already widely distributed memes. But they’re prestigious specifically in their NFT form because the creator has “signed” the work on the blockchain.</p>
<h2>Burning art</h2>
<p>But why would someone want to destroy the original art? Well, this is what the BurntBanksy collective <a href="https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/burned-banksy-now-being-sold-as-an-nft">had to say about it</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you were to have the NFT and the physical piece, the value would be primarily in the physical piece. By removing the physical piece from existence and only having the NFT, we can ensure that the NFT, due to the smart contract ability of the blockchain, will ensure that no one can alter the piece and it is the true piece that exists in the world. By doing this, the value of the physical piece will then be moved onto the NFT.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To most, this probably sounds like gibberish. I suspect the collective are acting a little provocatively by inverting our usual preference for the physical over the digital. However, their argument follows perfect blockchain logic. They argue if we have a piece of art and an NFT, then most people will consider the former the “real” art. </p>
<p>To invert this they’ve decided to burn what many would consider a piece of art that is objectively valuable, a Banksy, and leave only the NFT. Unlike physical art that can be burnt or shredded or broken, an NFT is a digital token that lives on an immutable blockchain. It can’t be destroyed and should therefore, according to their logic, be perfectly safe from vandals – such as themselves.</p>
<p>With the “real” art work gone the NFT now stands in for the real work. What they are hinting at, of course, is that this is a potential transition from “real” to NFT in general and their stunt highlights this. Intriguingly, their act also suggests they have themselves become artists. </p>
<p>By burning the real piece they transform it into the NFT-only piece. To see the value in NFTs, we have to look past the art itself and at the blockchain.</p>
<p>Finally, it’s interesting that the collective decided to pick a Banksy piece of art to destroy, considering the artist <a href="https://theconversation.com/banksy-i-was-in-the-room-when-his-painting-shredded-and-enhanced-his-brand-104660">shredded a piece of his own art live</a> in 2018, immediately after it was sold at auction. Perhaps the work of these vandals is closer in spirit to the original artist than appears at first sight.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156605/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Dylan-Ennis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A blockchain company has bought a piece of Banksy artwork worth US$95,000 and burnt it.Paul Dylan-Ennis, Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Management Information Systems, University College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1466422020-09-22T13:55:36Z2020-09-22T13:55:36ZBanksy brands under threat after elusive graffiti artist loses trademark legal dispute<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359160/original/file-20200921-18-1gydasr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C8%2C942%2C603&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dumbonyc/2558790140/in/photostream/">Dumbonyc/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Britain’s most famous – and enigmatic – graffiti artist <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-story-behind-banksy-4310304/">Banksy</a> once proclaimed that “copyright is for losers”. Now, having <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/sep/17/banksy-trademark-risk-street-artist-loses-legal-battle-flower-thrower-graffiti">lost a two-year legal fight</a> over the trademarking of one of his iconic artworks, that claim has come back to haunt him.</p>
<p>On September 16, the EU Trademark Office <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y2LcwirjGOqRap_tcTjT_Dwqh-lQWFAS/view">invalidated</a>
a trademark registered by <a href="https://pestcontroloffice.com">Pest Control</a>, the official body which authenticates Banksy’s art. The trademark incorporated Banksy’s iconic mural <a href="https://publicdelivery.org/banksy-flower-thrower/">Flower Thrower</a>, originally painted in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem.</p>
<p>This legal dispute initially erupted between Pest Control and Full Colour Black, a British greeting cards company which often uses artworks by Banksy. In March 2019 Full Colour Black asked for the cancellation of the trademark, claiming it was filed in bad faith. The row then hit the headlines after Banksy opened a store named <a href="https://grossdomesticproduct.com/">Gross Domestic Product</a> in South London in the autumn of 2019. At the time, the mysterious artist stated:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A greetings card company is contesting the trademark I hold to my art and attempting to take custody of my name so they can sell their fake Banksy merchandise legally.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Banksy said he had been legally advised that the best way to remedy the situation was to create his own merchandise. This aimed to show that he was trying to abide by the law which requires owners of trademarks to use their brands in the course of trade. Until this point Banksy had never regularly manufactured or sold merchandise bearing his brand.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359112/original/file-20200921-14-1wt4wp3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="White wall showing Banksy's Flower Thrower, which shows a masked youth throwing a bunch of flowers instead of a rock or a Molotov cocktail." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359112/original/file-20200921-14-1wt4wp3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359112/original/file-20200921-14-1wt4wp3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359112/original/file-20200921-14-1wt4wp3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359112/original/file-20200921-14-1wt4wp3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359112/original/file-20200921-14-1wt4wp3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359112/original/file-20200921-14-1wt4wp3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359112/original/file-20200921-14-1wt4wp3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksy’s iconic Flower Thrower image on a wall in Bethlehem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy#/media/File:West_bank.png">ZaBanker/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But such statements – not unexpectedly – <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-banksys-latest-trademark-row-could-backfire-124919">backfired</a>. The EU trademark office noted in its ruling that in opening a shop specifically to sell merchandise showing the Flame Thrower (the artwork the greetings card company wanted to use), Banksy had admitted that the use made of the Flower Thrower brand was not genuine. This merchandise was in bad faith, inconsistent with honest practices and aimed at creating or keeping a share of the market by selling products simply to circumvent the law.</p>
<p>This is not just bad news for the Flower Thrower brand. The decision could also <a href="https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/owners/618285">damage other Banksy’s trademark registrations</a> incorporating various iconic artworks, now at risk of being invalidated on the same grounds.</p>
<h2>Trademark or copyright?</h2>
<p>The case raises other issues too. Can artworks be monopolised by trademarking them? <a href="https://www.cla.co.uk/what-is-copyright">Copyright</a> and <a href="https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre/articles/what-is-a-trade-mark">trademarks</a> are different intellectual property rights. While copyright aims to protect artistic works such as paintings, trademarks protect logos and signs that help consumers to make informed purchase choices when it comes to buying products.</p>
<p>And Banksy – who has made clear his dislike of copyright - has tried to rely here on trademark law to protect his artworks. This is <a href="https://theconversation.com/banksy-finally-goes-to-court-to-stop-unauthorised-merchandising-despite-saying-copyright-is-for-losers-112390">not the first time</a> he has done so.</p>
<p>The reason Banksy doesn’t invoke copyright, instead relying on trademarks, is because a copyright suit would require Pest Control to show that it has acquired the copyright from the artist. This would reveal Banksy’s real name, which the famously anonymous artist wants to avoid, as it would remove his aura of mystery and affect the commercial value of his art.</p>
<p>Also, copyright is limited in time, while trademarks can be continuously renewed; trademarking an artwork therefore gives the artist a perpetual monopoly over it. This may offend a basic intellectual property law principle, namely that after a specific period of time everyone should be able to use, and build upon, artworks that have fallen into the public domain.</p>
<p>Of course there are artworks which are registered and enforced as trademarks, such as <a href="https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/001018696">Disney’s iconic characters</a>, but in most cases the trademarked work of art is used in a genuine way, with merchandise regularly produced and sold by the right holder. </p>
<p>But where the use has been token and aimed just at getting around the law, the scenario is more worrying. More so in cases like Banksy’s: when an artist doesn’t want to claim copyright but at the same time seeks potentially perpetual trademark rights over his art.</p>
<p>So Banksy’s statement – “Copyright is for losers” – has now come back to bite him. His negative opinion about an important intellectual property right clearly jeopardises his position in proceedings where proprietary rights are debated, as the EU trademark office suggested in its decision. </p>
<p>Certainly, an anti-establishment viewpoint does not prevent artists from relying on “establishment” legal tools to protect the very rights they criticise. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and a trademark owner cannot lose the right to a brand because he has said that copyright is for losers. You can still be anti-establishment and take legal action to protect your intellectual property. But what you can’t do is behave as Banksy did in creating his shop to simply get around the law and keep perpetual monopolies over his art.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Image of Gross Domestic Product a shop window in Croydon showing graffiti artist Banksy's merchandise." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359155/original/file-20200921-22-1r4qxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359155/original/file-20200921-22-1r4qxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359155/original/file-20200921-22-1r4qxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359155/original/file-20200921-22-1r4qxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=358&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359155/original/file-20200921-22-1r4qxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359155/original/file-20200921-22-1r4qxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/359155/original/file-20200921-22-1r4qxu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gross Domestic Product, Banksy’s shop window for his merchandise which hit the headlines in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-october-2-2019-crowds-1523572535">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Illegal graffiti</h2>
<p>The EU trademark office also noted that illegal graffiti cannot be protected by copyright because it is produced through the commission of a criminal act. It added that as graffiti is normally placed in public places for all to view and photograph, no copyright can be claimed.</p>
<p>But these statements are not accurate. The process of creating an artwork, whether legal or illegal, is not conclusive when it comes to determining whether copyright comes into existence.</p>
<p>For example, if I steal a pencil and create a wonderful drawing, why should I be denied copyright and be forced to tolerate someone else cashing in on my work? It would be unfair. The same could be said of illegal street art. Also, the fact that graffiti is placed in public locations does not assume that artists waive or are deprived of the rights copyright law offers them. That is simply mistaken.</p>
<p>Apart from this point, the decision is well-reasoned and fair. If Banksy wants to own, keep and enforce registered trademarks, he needs to act in good faith, and start using them seriously by regularly selling merchandise, as all entrepreneurs do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Enrico Bonadio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How Banksy’s glib response to a trademark challenge backfired and lost him a two-year legal battle.Enrico Bonadio, Reader in Intellectual Property Law, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1384872020-05-18T12:19:20Z2020-05-18T12:19:20ZCoronavirus murals: inside the world of pandemic-inspired street art<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/335415/original/file-20200515-138624-1r2kjce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C613%2C613&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Super Nurse!' painted as an 'ode' to all healthcare professionals around the world.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B-ACb_4lMCf/">@iamfake/Instagram</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is no aspect of life the COVID-19 pandemic has not affected – and many of us are finding that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/mar/28/cancelled-cultural-events-alternative-online-theatre-podcasts-comedy-art-pop-music-books">cultural events and art online</a> are lacking something vibrant and “real”. </p>
<p>One notable exception is street artists and graffiti artists, who have been busy incorporating COVID-19 into their work. The most prominent of these pieces is Banksy’s homage to the NHS and nurses everywhere called “Game Changer”. It hangs in Southampton Hospital, and will eventually be auctioned off for the NHS. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1258235526529728515"}"></div></p>
<p>Street artists all over the world have ventured out into quiet streets and left behind vibrant, thought-provoking, amusing commentary on the crisis. Many echo the same message as Banksy, that it’s the nurses and front-line healthcare workers that are the real heroes in this crisis. This can be seen in the new work of Amsterdam-based street artist FAKE, whose mural “<a href="https://streetartnews.net/2020/03/fakes-new-mural-super-nurse-available-for-free-download.html">Super Nurse!</a>” in the lead image shows a nurse wearing a face mask emblazoned with the Superman logo. </p>
<p>Others are more critical of politicians; or comically cynical about panic buying, social isolation and the pandemic itself. Below is Bristol-based street artist John D’oh’s take on the idiotic and dangerous statement US President Trump made about injecting disinfectant as a potential solution to a COVID-19 infection.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B_X5jsIlxXe","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>In a similar vein, Brazilian street artist Aira Ocrespo has depicted Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro has discouraged social distancing and lockdown, and was quoted as saying “So what? What do you want me to do?” when asked about Brazil’s rapid increase in COVID-19 cases. The text reads “Bolsonaro’s mask against the coronavirus”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B94FWBCJ1_F","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>In another example, Australian street artist LUSHSUX shows Chinese president Xi Jinping wearing a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/hazmat-suit-disease-deadly-viruses-danger-symbol-heroic">hazmat suit</a> while saying, “Nothing to see. Carry on”. It alludes to the fact that China claimed to have very low COVID-19 infection rates while reports suggest the actual rate may actually be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/china-coronavirus-cases-might-have-been-four-times-official-figure-says-study">four times higher</a> than stated.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B8DkjVEF9sU","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>The panic buying that afflicted many communities in the early days of lockdown has also been lampooned. Dominican street artist Jesus Cruz Artiles, aka EME Freethinker, comments on the toilet paper hoarding. Gollum of Lord of the Rings fame is seen uttering his famous line “my precious” while ogling a roll of toilet paper.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B97V9EmIL7a","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>John D'oh also gives his take on the toilet roll situation:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B-eFUEgFjuK","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Clearly these artists are a reflective group with informed opinions about the social issues around them. And they are not – as some would argue – simply out to vandalise to glorify themselves. </p>
<h2>Collective boundaries</h2>
<p>Street artists often take news stories, rumours and public information and reflect and exaggerate them. Street art is therefore often a product of the mainstream media, and an integrated component of it. This is commentary that becomes part of the spectrum of opinions about the pandemic. </p>
<p>But these opinions are not subject to any editorial control, nor do they ask for any authoritative permission to be expressed. This allows street artists to say things that might otherwise be excluded from public commentary. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B-jbRBniQGO","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>This type of commentary is very important, as it helps <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/us/politics/overton-window-democrats.html">society identify</a> where the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/12/21/16806676/strikethrough-how-trump-overton-window-extreme-normal">collective boundaries of acceptable opinion</a> are. Street art that goes too far will be reviled and painted over. But where street art says something compellingly controversial in a creative way, it will be discussed and shared through pictures and social media. This helps the art and the underlying opinions to be more widely accepted.</p>
<h2>Carnival against power</h2>
<p>Street art painted during the global lockdown is also important as it creates a sense of the <a href="https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/in-theory-bakhtin-2/">carnivalesque</a>. This is a concept put forth by philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin in which social rules and hierarchies are discarded so that a playful but critical critique of society’s structures can be made. </p>
<p>It occurs when the normal rules of society are suspended. Such instances encourage people to actively engage with their experiences so they may identify the artificial barriers and statuses that separate people from each other. It’s hoped that upon seeing these false hierarchies, people reject them and live a more free and unified form of social existence.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/B_cBHiNIuSP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Knowing that in some instances, these artists violated lockdown and possibly the law to paint, shows that momentary subversions of authoritative rules are possible, and that the walls of a city can be re-purposed as spaces of expression and commentary. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/tv/CALY8JrJ1fN","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>By mocking political leaders, laughing at the lesser aspects of our humanity, and recognising healthcare workers as superior to the heroes we traditionally mythologise, these murals offer us momentary respite from the constant news barrage and psychological weight of the global COVID-19 crisis.</p>
<p>These artists help to express our collective rage, fear and frustrations, and in doing so they may help us to reduce those feelings just a little. They also express our collective hope and reverence – and just maybe they help increase the unity between us all a little bit more.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyson Mitman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Street artists offer us momentary respite from the psychological weight of the global crisis.Tyson Mitman, Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, York St John UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1320352020-02-19T13:48:17Z2020-02-19T13:48:17ZBanksy: what happens when someone vandalises graffiti – and who owns it anyway?<p>The news that a Valentine’s Day mural by world-renowned graffiti artist Banksy was “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-51515557">vandalised</a>” has attracted substantial media interest. The image of a girl firing red flowers from her catapult was defaced by spray paint within hours of appearing on a house wall in Bristol. News reports said measures would be taken to protect the artwork from further damage, but the incident has raised the question as to whether an unsolicited piece of street art can be vandalised.</p>
<p>“Vandalism” is not a legal term – in UK law, it equates to criminal damage and may amount to an offence under section 1 of the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/48/contents">Criminal Damage Act 1971</a> if it were to be an intentional or reckless destruction or damage of property belonging to another.</p>
<p>The law does not, however, draw a clear distinction between great works of street art that have been thoughtfully applied and the casual tagging of a wall. In both cases, if permission has not been sought, then an offence may be committed regardless of the merit of the artwork in question. The <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/38/contents">Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003</a> defines graffiti as “the painting or writing on, or the soiling, marking or other defacing of, any property by whatever means” and graffiti artists may be subject to a fine or may be subject to prosecution under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 where more substantial damage has been done.</p>
<p>Several Banksy artworks have been removed or defaced. <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-14145286">The Gorilla in a Pink Mask</a>, one of Banksy’s first works on a Bristol social club, and his <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-11827202">No Future</a> mural on a Southampton wall were painted over – the first accidentally, and the second in an act of apparent vandalism.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315957/original/file-20200218-10995-5ysi38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksy’s Masked Gorilla artwork in Bristol was hit by vandals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">JOHN19701970 via Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Damaging property</h2>
<p>What amounts to damage to property is broadly construed and includes where that damage is both temporary and minor. For example, the courts <a href="http://www.e-lawresources.co.uk/Hardman-v-Chief-Constable-of-Avon.php">have previously held</a> that painting a pavement with water-soluble paints amounted to damaging the pavement despite the fact this could be easily removed. Damaging typically means property has been rendered unusable, a cost will be incurred in repairing the property, or the property has been otherwise been reduced in value.</p>
<p>Though we can normally assume that graffiti amounts to criminal damage, graffiti of artistic merit or monetary worth may instead enhance the value of that property. So much so that homeowners who had Banksy on the side of their home offered that mural for sale in 2007 “<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/6351467.stm">with a Victorian house attached</a>”. </p>
<h2>The Valentine’s Day mural</h2>
<p>What of the defaced Valentine’s Day mural? We know that a Banksy street mural can be worth <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-28950398">upwards of £400,000</a> and it is likely that Banksy is one of the few graffiti artists whose unsolicited works may not be subject to criminal prosecution (though, they still would amount to criminal damage in law).</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1228700502361284608"}"></div></p>
<p>It is clear the homeowners were receptive to the Valentine’s mural, as they unsuccessfully attempted to protect it with a perspex sheet. One issue requiring clarification here is the actual “type” of property we are concerned with. The wall is part of a building and is therefore part of the land. With the addition of the artwork, the question becomes whether that wall has taken on a new “form”. </p>
<p>For example, has that wall become a form of “personal” property (like a framed painting)? Has that wall, now with the artwork in tow, become a form of “intellectual” property, the likes of which we speak about protection in copyright?</p>
<p>The damage inflicted by spray paint is a more clear-cut case of criminal damage – although whether this amounts to criminal damage of the Valentine’s mural or merely of the wall is a more difficult question. As the damaged “property” in question remains a wall – albeit a highly decorated one – it is likely the secondary graffiti amounted to criminal damage to a wall that had greatly increased in value.</p>
<h2>Who owns the mural?</h2>
<p>Where graffiti has been applied to the wall of a property, that physical piece of “art” belongs to the owners of the property, who may choose to lawfully <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-29918326">remove it</a> or to protect it. If the property is rented – as is reportedly the case for the Valentine’s mural – the graffiti becomes part of the fabric of that building and belongs to the property owner, not the tenants. Ownership of the intangible rights to the artwork (the copyright), however, will remain the property of Banksy as the artist.</p>
<p>Ownership rights have been a subject of dispute. In 2012 a Banksy mural entitled <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/may/11/banksy-slave-labour-mural-row-sale">Slave Labour</a> was painted on a property owned by Wood Green Investments to later be removed and offered for sale at auction. There was an outcry by local residents who considered it to be community property. Here, the law is once again clear. Regardless of the intentions of the artist – it is unlikely Banksy intended to gift an investment firm a mural – it clearly belonged to those owners of the property.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/315963/original/file-20200218-11000-1lt2twc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksy’s Slave Labour mural on Turnpike Lane in north London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DeptfordJon via Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While it is questionable whether the Banksy artwork is capable of being damaged, given that it itself is criminal damage, it is certainly the case that the wall (which will have increased in value as a result of the artwork) will have been further damaged by the act of vandalism. </p>
<p>The question of ownership will remain hotly contested as more Banksy artworks appear and the nature of the property – whether it remains land or becomes personal and intellectual property – will continue to enthuse property lawyers for some time to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The defacing of a new Banksy mural in Bristol has raised some interesting legal questions.Mark Thomas, Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent UniversitySamantha Pegg, Senior Lecturer, Criminal Law, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1249192019-10-10T08:46:24Z2019-10-10T08:46:24ZHow Banksy’s latest trademark row could backfire<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296182/original/file-20191009-3917-1dwjao3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Banksy's merchandise "shop" in Croydon, London.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-october-2-2019-crowds-1523572535">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The elusive Bristol street artist <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-story-behind-banksy-4310304/?page=1">Banksy</a> has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/oct/01/banksy-launches-homewares-shop-in-dispute-over-trademark">hit the headlines</a> again recently after opening a store named <a href="https://grossdomesticproduct.com">Gross Domestic Product</a> in South London. It is (literally) a shop window where people can see displayed objects and buy them online. Products for sale include the <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/29/entertainment/stormzy-glastonbury-scli-gbr-intl/index.html">Union Jack stab-proof vest</a> as worn by Stormzy at Glastonbury festival, disco balls made from discarded police riot helmets and other items showcasing Banksy’s art. </p>
<p>The famous artist said he had been pushed into setting up the store selling “offensive and impractical” merchandise because of a trademark dispute with a greetings card company. In a statement he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A greetings card company is contesting the trademark I hold to my art and attempting to take custody of my name so they can sell their fake Banksy merchandise legally.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He was then legally advised that the best way to remedy the situation was to create his own merchandise. This course of action presumably aims to show that Banksy is trying to abide by the law which requires owners of registered trademarks to properly use their brands in the course of trade. In the past Banksy has never manufactured, sold or offered for sale goods bearing his brands.</p>
<h2>The dispute</h2>
<p>The row arose in March 2019 when greetings card producer Full Colour Black started an invalidity action aimed at <a href="https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/012575155">cancelling an EU trademark</a> based on Banksy’s iconic mural <a href="https://www.thewholeworldisaplayground.com/banksy-bethlehem-street-art">Flower Thrower</a>, originally painted in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem. The trademark had been formally registered in August 2014 by Pest Control, the official body which authenticates Banksy’s art, acting on behalf of the artist.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=646&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296179/original/file-20191009-3935-14m0yy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksy’s Flower Thrower.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banksy_costume.jpg">Banksy/Wikipedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The legal challenge mainly relies on two arguments. First, the trademark is not capable of being perceived as such by consumers, as the artwork is used so intensively and commonly by a multitude of entities that sell products reproducing Banksy’s art. In the past this has been accepted and even encouraged by the artist, who famously once said that “copyright is for losers”.</p>
<p>His art is regularly printed and reproduced on everything from posters to keyrings. In other words, the Flower Thrower trademark (and arguably other Banksy brands such as the <a href="https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmowner/page/search?id=39918&domain=1&app=0&mark=UK00003354581">Hip-Hop Rat</a>) are just mere artworks, the card company argues, that would be seen by people as artistic ornamentation or products themselves. But they are not signs capable of allowing consumers to recognise the manufacturer of the goods.</p>
<p>The second argument is that Banksy should enforce his copyright over his artworks instead of registering trademarks that incorporate them and are not really used to distinguish goods. Indeed, while copyright aims at protecting artistic works, trademarks protect logos and signs that help consumers to make informed purchase choices.</p>
<p>But why does the artist avoid relying on copyright, preferring to apply for trademarks, instead? After all, if copyright is ethically unacceptable and contrary to his anti-establishment message (as Banksy seems to believe), surely trademarks should be considered undesirable on the same grounds?</p>
<p>Both copyright and trademarks give monopolistic rights that allow their owners to profit from their own creations, preventing others from trying to cash in. So it doesn’t really make sense to assert that “<a href="https://ipcloseup.com/2019/05/07/copyright-is-for-losers-says-street-artist-banksy-some-trademarks-not/">copyright is for losers</a>” while simultaneously seeking trademark registrations to try to protect copyrightable art.</p>
<p>The real reason Banksy doesn’t invoke copyright seems far more calculated than simply being based on ethical and solidarity principles. Starting a copyright legal action would require Pest Control to show that it has acquired the copyright from the artist. But this would reveal Banksy’s real name, which the famously anonymous artist wants to avoid, as it would erase the aura of mystery around him and have an impact on the commercial value of his art.</p>
<p>This has also happened last year when Banksy <a href="https://theconversation.com/banksy-finally-goes-to-court-to-stop-unauthorised-merchandising-despite-saying-copyright-is-for-losers-112390">sued an Italian museum</a> that had organised an unauthorised exhibition which included the sale of merchandise reproducing his branded art. The street artist again did not enforce copyright – he preferred to invoke trademark infringement instead.</p>
<h2>David v Goliah</h2>
<p>But the artist’s new shop – and his reasons for the new venture – could backfire. The argument that he now must sell his own range of branded merchandise to resist an invalidity trademark action could be invoked by others to show that such use of his brands is basically token, for the sole purpose of avoiding his trademarks being revoked for non-use. The law is quite clear on this point: if you don’t use your brand in a genuine way, you may lose the registration. </p>
<p>The Flower Thrower, the Hip-Hop Rat and other trademarks <a href="https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#advanced/trademarks/1/100/n1=MarkVerbalElementText&v1=Banksy&o1=AND&c1=IS&sf=ApplicationNumber&so=asc">registered by Banksy</a> may now be more exposed to the risk of revocation for non-use.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=357&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296183/original/file-20191009-3851-s35lu2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hip Hop Rat by Banksy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banksy_Hip_Hop_Rat.jpg">Tim Fuller/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite Banksy’s efforts to present himself as a down-to-earth, anti-conformist artist and paint the card company as the “bad guy”, this is more like a David v Goliath story – and Banksy is the giant here. Supported by a raft of experienced corporate lawyers and managers worldwide, his art is an undeniably <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6247943/How-DOES-Banksy-earn-money-Secretive-artist-thought-make-millions-year.html">powerful and commercially valuable industry</a>. </p>
<p>Full Colour Black employs three people in a small greetings card business reproducing graffiti artworks including Banksy’s. Exploiting street and graffiti art without artists’ authorisation is certainly a violation of their copyright. Yet, this is not the case with Full Colour Black as it <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/full-colour-black/public-statement-release/2557627524344258/">informed</a> Banksy’s representatives that the company wanted to pay him royalties, which he refused. The artist has basically waived his copyright.</p>
<p>If Banksy really wants to keep his registered trademarks, and possibly enforce them against people who exploit them, he’s going to have to start using his brands properly so he can avoid them being revoked and see off other challenges. He may not be happy being forced to cede to consumerist rules, but this is what is required by the very laws that have allowed the registration of his trademarks. Banksy is just going to have to play the game.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124919/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Enrico Bonadio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Forced into selling his own merchandise to stop others doing the same, the artist could end up facing other similar challenges because he trademarks rather than copyrights his artworks.Enrico Bonadio, Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1160312019-05-24T10:52:00Z2019-05-24T10:52:00ZBanksy: graffiti has become more valuable for what it is than what it says<p>On the side of a garage in Port Talbot, south Wales, a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/dec/19/banksy-port-talbot-mural-south-wales">new Banksy artwork appeared</a>. The piece, titled “Season’s Greetings”, very quickly brought thousands of visitors to the town. And by January 2019 there was so much interest in it that art dealer John Brandler paid a “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46910294">six-figure sum</a>” for the graffiti. </p>
<p>The decision to sell the Banksy sparked some controversy, with the most prominent concern being that Brandler <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/apr/30/banksy-artwork-port-talbot-seasons-greeetings-welsh-steel-town">would take the work away</a> from Port Talbot, removing a valuable tourist draw. But Brandler has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48184287">moved the work</a> to a new Street Art Museum (SAM) in the town, alongside works by other famous street artists such as Blek le Rat and Pure Evil. He has guaranteed its exhibition there for the next three years and even promised locals free entry. </p>
<p>Residents were happy, but a few still wondered if graffiti or street art belongs in a museum at all. Some say that privatising street art is counter to the nature of the form, that graffiti in a museum is like a tiger in a cage. </p>
<p>Sure, street art can still be powerful and beautiful in a gallery, but an essential piece of it is lost by disconnecting it from its natural setting and locking it in a confined and controlled space. But Brandler owned the work, and wanted it as a centrepiece for SAM, which will attract visitors, so in it went. </p>
<p>Season’s Greetings depicts a small boy with a sledge dressed in winter attire looking up sticking his tongue out to catch what appear to be falling snowflakes. The other half of the image – painted around a corner – depicts a dumpster fire emitting smoke and ash. The corner is the key, asserting on the viewer how unaware the boy is of his predicament. </p>
<p>It has been photographed and posted hundreds of times since it was painted, but most tellingly <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BrkqwhnlNjR/">on Banksy’s Instagram feed</a>. There it’s pictured with the <a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/truth-behind-port-talbot-banksy-15608628">local steelworks looming behind</a>, making an allusion that the piece is a commentary on Port Talbot’s air pollution. The town’s levels of one type of particulate matter (PM10) are among the <a href="https://airqualitynews.com/2018/05/08/who-amends-figures-after-port-talbot-pm2-5-data-error/">highest in the country</a>, and this has been <a href="http://www.procurement.wales.nhs.uk/40330.file.dld">largely attributed</a> to emissions from the steelworks. Although it must be noted that in recent months owner Tata Steel has pledged to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-47145258">introduce new measures</a> to reduce emissions from the site.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BrkqwhnlNjR","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Spectacle value</h2>
<p>The debate over whether artworks like this should be moved and placed in museums is overshadowed by the prestige and prosperity that possessing a Banksy can bring to a city, and the associated tourism money that comes with it. But sociologically speaking Banksy’s work is valuable for two reasons. First, because people pay attention to it. French philosopher Guy Debord wrote about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/mar/30/guy-debord-society-spectacle">the “society of the spectacle”</a> in 1967 but his ideas are very relevant to Banksy today. Debord would say Banksy’s value is achieved through the attention his work receives, and how that collective attention reflects off his art and back onto the audience as evidence that the work is inherently valuable. Simply put, people paying sufficient attention to a Banksy (or indeed any artwork) makes it a spectacle, which grants it legitimate commercial value. </p>
<p>But Banksy’s work also has value because of something essential – what sociologist Howard Becker would call its “maverick” qualities. Mavericks, Becker says, are those who push the boundaries of their forms and expand conventions. Banksy is a maverick in both the graffiti and conventional art worlds, expanding what graffiti can be and say, and pushing the boundaries of what conventional art can look like. As such his work has intrinsic, innovative value as well as commercial value. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/276097/original/file-20190523-187147-p3fj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The value of Banksy’s work comes in part from people paying attention to it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/port-talbot-west-wales-december-20th-1263167128?src=2PqdHzfMdYyuCgmFI4wigw-1-0">i shootstock/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While this is valid motivation for privately exhibiting the work, using the Banksy as a tourist draw does little more than commodify it and reduce its value to who produced it. Commodifying it says “this is a Banksy, it is important and valuable because it is a Banksy, and as such it is worth you paying to see it in person”. But this framing of the work imposes itself in a way that obscures the graffiti’s unambiguous and conspicuous message. The commercial value of the Banksy, its privileged place in a museum, and the security protecting it all tell the observer that it is precious for what it is and who produced it, not what it says. Its legitimacy and authority are byproducts of its exchange value and not its social commentary. </p>
<p>The Port Talbot Banksy’s commentary, though open to interpretation, is that the harms of pollution are suffered the most by those who are the least responsible for the conditions, the most vulnerable to them, and the least aware of them – children. If the town’s pollution is not dealt with the town’s children will be the ones who suffer its effects. But promoting this message is not in the town’s financial interests. It is shrewder to promote the fact that there is an exclusive and expensive work by counterculture icon and provocateur Banksy on display; come and pay to see it. But how many visitors will think much about what Banksy may be saying, or about why it showed up specifically in Port Talbot?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyson Mitman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the Port Talbot Banksy is moved to a new street art museum, the very reason it was created is being ignored.Tyson Mitman, Lecturer in Sociology and Criminology, York St John UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1123902019-02-25T12:28:16Z2019-02-25T12:28:16ZBanksy finally goes to court to stop unauthorised merchandising, despite saying copyright is for losers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260677/original/file-20190225-26171-js0yto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A visitor enjoys the art of Banksy exhbition at the Mudec Museum in Milan.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.epa.eu/arts-culture-and-entertainment-photos/arts-general-photos/a-visual-protest-the-art-of-banksy-exhibit-photos-54789174">EPA-EFE</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Copyright is for losers – or so Banksy <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/114683.Wall_and_Piece">once claimed</a>. But the days of the mysterious artist’s dislike for intellectual property now appear to be long gone, as he has recently <a href="https://www.ilgiorno.it/milano/cronaca/bansky-1.4455040">won a case of unauthorised merchandising in Italy</a>. </p>
<p>The unauthorised copying of Banksy works is widespread – a stroll through London’s popular markets in Camden and Brick Lane, and a quick search online proves that. His work has been printed and reproduced on everything from mugs to mouse mats. But despite previous rumours that Banksy’s lawyers have sent letters to complain about his artworks being exploited, it seems so far that these objections have not made their way into courtrooms. </p>
<p>However, at the end of 2018, <a href="https://www.pestcontroloffice.com/whatispco.html">Pest Control</a>, the handling service that authenticates Banksy’s artworks, took action against an Italian company that organised an exhibition – <a href="https://www.24orecultura.com/art/mostre/2018-07-02/banksy-113835.php">The art of Banksy. A visual protest</a> – for Milan’s Mudec Museum. The event opened in November 2018, and runs until April 2019. </p>
<p>In January, a provisional ruling by a court in Milan ordered the museum to stop selling merchandise which reproduced Banksy’s branded art. While the works on display were either original, or authentic prints, the organisers were also selling products such as notebooks, diaries, postcards, bookmarks and erasers, all of which incorporated Banksy’s art.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260670/original/file-20190225-26149-bfk4d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/260670/original/file-20190225-26149-bfk4d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260670/original/file-20190225-26149-bfk4d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260670/original/file-20190225-26149-bfk4d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260670/original/file-20190225-26149-bfk4d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260670/original/file-20190225-26149-bfk4d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/260670/original/file-20190225-26149-bfk4d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksy’s flower thrower, as painted in the West Bank village of Beit Sahour.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beit-sahour-occupied-palestinian-territories-june-336012893?src=SGnIU6YY9PkPKJXVoSTOug-1-0">Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Pest Control enforced its trademark rights over the Banksy name and his iconic pieces <a href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/banksy/girl-with-balloon">Girl with balloon</a> and <a href="https://www.wikiart.org/en/banksy/flower-thrower">Flower thrower</a>. It did so to stop the unauthorised merchandising, as well as the use of Banksy imagery in the promotional material produced by the exhibition’s organisers. While the Milan judge noted that the use of Banksy’s name and art on merchandise amounted to trademark infringement, he denied wrongdoings with regards to the promotional material. The court stressed that the use of Banksy’s art on such material is informative in the sense that it is necessary to describe the contents of the show. </p>
<h2>Changing legal strategy</h2>
<p>So should we now expect more legal actions by Banksy, in courts around the world? If the artist, who has long tolerated other people copying, appropriating and exploiting his art, is changing his strategy it wouldn’t be a bad thing. After all, artists have good reasons to ask for intellectual property protection, whether they produce works in the studio or <a href="https://theconversation.com/graffiti-copyright-battles-pitch-artists-against-advertisers-30291">paint in the streets</a>. They put effort and creativity in producing art, and the law should reward them accordingly. And indeed several graffiti writers and street artists have also <a href="https://theconversation.com/big-brands-ripping-off-street-art-is-not-cool-why-illegal-graffiti-should-be-protected-by-copyright-93439">recently fought to protect their works</a> on copyright grounds.</p>
<p>Although the court confirmed that Pest Control trademark registrations were valid, the judge noted that the documents filed in the proceedings showed just limited use of Banksy brand. Basically, the Banksy logo is only used on certificates of authenticity released on Pest Control letterhead, and on some canvas frames. This is a clear weak point in Banksy and Pest Control’s legal strategy going forward. If Banksy wants to keep enforcing any of <a href="https://trademarks.ipo.gov.uk/ipo-tmowner/page/search?id=39918&domain=1&app=0&mark=UK00003354581">his trademarks</a> in courts around the world, and avoid the risk of them being cancelled for lack of use, he will need to show judges stronger evidence of his brands being used in the market. This probably means he needs to start regularly producing and selling his own branded merchandise through a specialised commercial vehicle, which so far has not really happened – and may be considered by Banksy himself as antithetical to the very anti-capitalistic message he wants to convey through his art.</p>
<p>What is also noteworthy in this case is that Pest Control has decided not to enforce Banksy’s copyright. Such a decision doesn’t come as a surprise though, as it would require Pest Control to show judges that it has acquired the copyright from the artist. But this would entail the disclosure of Banksy’s real name, which the artist obviously doesn’t want to reveal as it would remove the aura of mystery surrounding him, and consequently reduce the value of his art.</p>
<p>All in all, this legal action in Milan confirms once again Banksy’s ambiguity. He is an artist that started a suit to stop the commercial and unauthorised use of a brand which he deliberately does not use in the market (probably to avoid blurring the anti-consumerist nature of his art). But Banksy cannot have it both ways. If he wants to fight regularly (and successfully) against the unauthorised exploitation of his works, especially his brands, he will need to accept the market-driven logic underpinning their legal protection, and start a proper business plan which includes merchandising of his own art, as most art entrepreneurs do. After all, it is entirely possible to create art to send anti-establishment messages and at the same time legally protect the commercial side of it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112390/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Enrico Bonadio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Banksy’s legal team has won an action to stop unauthorised products featuring his work alongside an Italian museum exhibition.Enrico Bonadio, Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1104002019-02-07T16:06:16Z2019-02-07T16:06:16ZStreet artists are joining the fight to save the environment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257716/original/file-20190207-174857-a3my2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C92%2C1080%2C795&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Vhils', a Portuguese street artist, chisels an endangered orangutan onto a wall in the city of Medan, Indonesia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BhjRXqKFdaw/">splashandburn / instagram</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In these times of rising <a href="https://www.equaltimes.org/climate-change-civil-society-steps?lang=en#.XDrw9c_7Q6g">activism on climate change and other environmental threats</a>, a new band of campaigners has joined the fight: street artists. And these artists are using the landscape, communities and social media to spread their message.</p>
<p>Banksy, probably the most famous street artist in the world, recently made his views clear through a <a href="https://theconversation.com/banksy-who-should-foot-the-bill-to-protect-his-work-in-public-spaces-109831">new piece</a> in Wales featuring a boy under what looks like snow, but is actually pollution from an industrial bin.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BrkqwhnlNjR","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Banksy has always been overtly political and controversial, but this was a clear environmental message in an area which is home to one of the <a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/truth-behind-port-talbot-banksy-15608628">largest steelworks</a> in Europe. The image was displayed in the news and on social media across the globe.</p>
<p>Through his use of a child, Banksy’s piece echoes the work of another street artist, Ernest Zacharevic, who reached international fame in 2012 with his two street murals <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/guardianwitness-blog/gallery/2013/oct/25/graffiti-around-the-world-best-photos">little children on a bike</a> and <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=zacharevic+kid+on+a+motorcycle&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=o_GI7EHkv83UNM%253A%252C6NfFoLQ1vWYlJM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kSWob6lqUH5Tfgrxr_uw0VC9T539g&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJkcqZlurfAhVOiXAKHXXPDwQQ9QEwAHoECAQQBA#imgrc=CePHexgALdv6QM:">kid on a motorcycle</a> located in the city of George Town, Malaysia.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"598793301865734145"}"></div></p>
<p>Like Banksy, Zacharevic’s more recent work was also inspired by environmental pollution. In 2015, a haze of pollution made the air in Malaysia almost unbreathable. Zacharevic’s inquiries led him to learn that that the smoke in the region came <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-indonesia-cant-stamp-out-fires-that-have-cast-a-haze-over-south-east-asia-50029">all the way from Indonesia</a>, caused by unauthorised slash-and-burn techniques used by smallholder farmers to clear the forest to make room for palm oil plantations.</p>
<p>The Lithuania-born artist began to take an interest in the palm oil industry and researched the issue for two years by engaging with local people in Indonesia.</p>
<p>At the same time, <a href="http://theconversation.com/palm-oil-boycott-could-actually-increase-deforestation-sustainable-products-are-the-solution-106733">NGO campaigns</a> in the UK and elsewhere in Europe were trying to alert consumers to how the palm oil industry was destroying the environment and abusing human rights. They also began to collaborate with <a href="https://www.spott.org/news/sustainable-palm-oil-responsible-investment/">UK investors</a> to engage with the urgent sustainability consequences of deforestation, land conflict and labour conditions, and to advocate for a sustainable palm oil industry.</p>
<p>Zacharevic then partnered with the London-based <a href="https://instagram.com/orangutanssos?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=u9bom4lpidnd">Sumatra Orangutan Society</a> and Indonesia-based <a href="https://instagram.com/orangutaninformationcentre?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=hc9lwojfz5v7">Orangutan Information Centre</a> to form the “Splash and Burn” campaign. Its aim was to make people aware of the social and environmental tensions caused by the current practices in the palm oil industry.</p>
<p>In 2017, he discreetly invited a team of <a href="http://www.ernestzacharevic.com/splash-and-burn-2/">international street artists</a> to join him in Indonesia to produce haunting public art pieces in remote villages, natural landscapes and towns. Famous figures in the street art scene were eager to participate in what they saw as a much needed demonstration of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/may/15/splash-and-burn-artists-take-aim-at-sumatra-palm-oil-industry-indonesia-ernest-zacharevic">grassroots art activism</a>. Here, for instance, is noted urban sculpturer Mark Jenkins:</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"864900972002377728"}"></div></p>
<p>Through different creative and sometimes improvised techniques, the street art collective created awareness of the damage caused by unregulated deforestation. Their action was relayed through their Instagram accounts, personal websites, and online press.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BVH08Qcj6KN/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet\u0026igshid=1mgcm77judv5d","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Here’s a mural Zacharevic created of an orangutan being chased by fire:</p>
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<p>In 2018, Splash and Burn took a turn towards “land art” when Zacharevic and his team drew a giant SOS sign on a 124-acre former palm oil plantation in north Sumatra, Indonesia. The land had just been acquired by the environmentally conscious cosmetics company <a href="https://uk.lush.com/article/meet-artists-splash-and-burn">Lush</a>, which raised funds to replant an indigenous forest. The artists also shot a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f13GnafX2CQ">short movie</a> to raise global awareness and to connect artists with civil society organisations. </p>
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<p>Street artists are becoming more and more internationally and officially recognised for their environmental work. In 2018, Hawaiian-born artist Sean Yoro, who goes by the artist name Hula, made the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/sean-yoro/#60fff3625aff">Forbes “30 under 30” list</a> for his murals, mostly of female faces being submerged in water. His works raise the question of rising sea levels due to climate change.</p>
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<p>Street art has typically focused on megacities and urban festivals. But a generation of digitally ultra-connected artists has been encouraged to engage with grassroots campaigners and spread their brushes and spray cans elsewhere – to forests and seas – and to creatively question our relationships to the natural world.</p>
<p>Street artists have recently been criticised for “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-artists-dilemma-what-constitutes-selling-out-50696">selling out</a>” to big companies for taking on commissioned work, without showing any critical awareness of the social impact of these big companies. Yet these examples of climate activist street art shows artists can actually bring an alternative and responsible message to the public through their work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110400/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Giamporcaro receives funding from Nottingham Trent University under the Global Heritage Research Theme’s Funding Scheme to conduct research on preserving heritage through street art. This piece was ignited by our conversations with artist Ernest Zacharevic who curated the Splash and Burn project, Splash and Burn fellow artists Bibichun and Gabriel Pitcher and street art promoter Tan Chor Whye. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Kuk receives funding from Nottingham Trent University under the Global Heritage Research Theme's Funding Scheme to conduct research on preserving heritage through street art. </span></em></p>Banksy’s ‘boy in falling snow/pollution’ is part of a worldwide movement of artistic activism against environmental problems and climate change.Stephanie Giamporcaro, Associate Professor, Sustainable Finance, University of Nottingham Trent & University of Cape Town, Nottingham Trent UniversityGeorge Kuk, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1098312019-01-17T10:59:43Z2019-01-17T10:59:43ZBanksy: who should foot the bill to protect his work in public spaces?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253674/original/file-20190114-43517-nxelsb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Port Talbot Banksy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.paimages.co.uk/search-results/fluid/?q=banksy%20port%20talbot&amber_border=1&category=A,S,E&fields_0=all&fields_1=all&green_border=1&imagesonly=1&orientation=both&red_border=1&words_0=all&words_1=all">Ben Birchall/PA Wire/PA Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When a mural by artist Banksy <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46617742">appeared on a garage wall</a> in Port Talbot, the building’s owner, Ian Lewis, had no idea just <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46771722">how many people</a> would want to get a good look at it. The mural has attracted <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46759349">thousands of visitors</a> and Lewis has been keen to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46617742">protect it</a>, by employing guards, and building a see-through covering over the work.</p>
<p>But should there even be security on a piece of graffiti? After all, <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/38778/occupying-the-walls-graffiti-as-political-protest/">the essence of graffiti</a> is that it is temporary and subject to the possibility of being covered over with the next slogan or image. It has long been one of the means by which people can <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2017/may/17/writing-wall-political-graffiti-banksy-brexit-trump-in-pictures">make their views known</a> in a very public way without official sanction. It is a form of protest that visually takes up public space and asks for no endorsement and often no individual credit. </p>
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<p>The list of graffiti artists who have gained recognition in the contemporary art world is not a long one. Shepherd Fairey, who <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/229396/barack-obama-hope-poster">designed the Obama “Hope” poster</a>, and <a href="https://www.theartstory.org/artist-basquiat-jean-michel.htm">Jean Michel Basquiat</a> are two of the most well known. Banksy himself has been quoted as saying that he never craved commercial success and that it’s actually <a href="https://www.villagevoice.com/2013/10/09/village-voice-exclusive-an-interview-with-banksy-street-art-cult-hero-international-man-of-mystery/">a mark of failure for a graffiti artist</a>. </p>
<p>A lofty sentiment, but whether he wants it or not, the popularity of Banksy’s work is phenomenal. The pared down stencil style coupled with often highly astute political commentary and visual puns is easy to read. It is enough to satisfy even those for whom art should consist of a “proper picture of something”.</p>
<p>It also lends itself very well to reproduction and copying. I actually have a mug emblazoned with Banksy style rats sitting on my desk as I write. This is what happens when an iconoclast becomes an icon. What started out as a practice that deliberately subverted the concept of art as an exclusive, costly investment, has now become just as commodified as the latest piece by <a href="https://www.theartstory.org/artist-hirst-damien.htm">Damien Hirst</a>.</p>
<h2>Banksy’s bankability</h2>
<p>I’m personally on the fence about some of Banksy’s more recent work. I’m completely on board with the political nature of the imagery and most definitely share a lot of his ideological sentiments, but there is a degree to which he is becoming a parody of himself. For example, while it’s easy to appreciate the point he was making with the recently auctioned self-destructing drawing “<a href="https://theconversation.com/banksy-i-was-in-the-room-when-his-painting-shredded-and-enhanced-his-brand-104660">Love is in the Bin</a>”, no one could convince me that he was unaware of the effect that the action would have on his bankability.</p>
<p>Given he knows the impact his work can have, was it selfish of Banksy to impose this latest piece on the unsuspecting garage owner? Or was it an act of extreme philanthropy, bestowing on Port Talbot a gift that can be used either to benefit the individual or the community? He must have known that Lewis would be plagued with attention, and the inevitability of this imposed cultural responsibility must surely have at least crossed Banksy’s mind. </p>
<p>Public art comes in many diverse forms, from the monumental statues commemorating historical figures, to the temporary and often illegal murals created by contemporary graffiti artists. My own practice is informed by an ethos of inclusion that places the nearby community at the centre of decisions about how it is created, themed and managed.</p>
<p>Because of that philosophical background, I do find Banksy’s imposition of his work without regard for its effect on the local community to be irritatingly entitled. However, the <a href="https://www.theartstory.org/artist-banksy-artworks.htm">issues he highlights</a> such as the <a href="https://theartstack.com/artist/banksy/i-remember-when-all-this-was-trees">capitalist obsession with growth</a> over sustainability, and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/banksy-port-talbot-graffiti-wales-michael-sheen-steel-pollution-environment-a8692821.html">industrial air pollution</a> are relevant and important to a much wider community, so I appreciate that by using his fame to draw attention to them he is carrying out a form of community service.</p>
<p>The Welsh government <a href="https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/banksy-collector-willing-pay-six-15656998">has since confirmed</a> it will be taking over security for the Port Talbot artwork, and is discussing the future of the piece. Whether by design or because he just isn’t interested in how the work is used, it’s part of Banksy’s artistic practice to leave the work to the mercy of others when it’s complete. However, it could be argued that he could have used <a href="https://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/close_look/how-does-banksy-make-money-or-a-lesson-in-art-market-economics-55352">some of his own money</a> to help protect the work, and mitigate against any grief <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46810787">he’s caused the garage owner</a>.</p>
<p>I’d personally like to see the work sold, and the proceeds used to address some of the social and political issues that Banksy highlights with his work. It worked for Dennis Stinchcombe who, when a mural entitled Mobile Lovers appeared on the doorway of his Bristol youth club in 2014, sold the work and used the funds <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46810787">to save the struggling organisation</a>. </p>
<p>Whatever happens now, one thing is certain: Banksy certainly knows how to get his work in the news.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109831/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Janice Aitken is the Honorary Secretary of UCU Scotland, Chair of the Board of Directors of Dundee Women's Aid and a Board Member of Tin Roof Artist's Collective</span></em></p>Unsolicited artwork by the world famous artist can cause big problems for private building owners.Janice Aitken, Reader in Art and Design, University of DundeeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048102018-10-19T10:36:19Z2018-10-19T10:36:19ZBanksy and the tradition of destroying art<p>When the British street artist Banksy shredded his “Girl With Balloon” after it was purchased for US$1.4 million at <a href="http://www.cnn.com/style/article/banksy-painting-self-destructs-auction-trnd/">Sotheby’s</a>, did he know how the art world would react?</p>
<p>Did he anticipate that the critics would <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2018/10/06/banksy-painting-sold-auction-million-then-automatically-shredded-itself/?utm_term=.aa7ba518e62c">claim</a> that the work, in its partially shredded state, would climb in value to at least $2 million? That the purchaser <a href="https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/a23760293/banksy-shredded-doubled-value/">would not object</a> and would instead rejoice? </p>
<p>We have no way of really knowing, though the famously anonymous artist <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/107939181/banksy-posts-video-saying-incomplete-shredding-was-a-malfunction">did suggest that the shredder malfunctioned</a>: The painting was supposed to be fully shredded, not partially destroyed. </p>
<p>As an art historian, I view his act in a larger context – as the latest example of artists deploying guerrilla tactics to expose their disdain for the critics, dealers, gallery owners and museum curators whom they depend on for their livelihood.</p>
<p>In shredding “Girl With Balloon,” Banksy seems to be pointing to a central absurdity of his graffiti art being treated as fine art. When it appears on city streets, anyone can vandalize it; now that the same images are in galleries and auction houses, they must be handled with white gloves. </p>
<p>But, as he may well know, the art market is far too wealthy and adaptable to be undone by a shredder. </p>
<p>In fact, we’ve seen the same pattern play out, time and again: An artist will launch a withering critique and instead of taking offense, the market simply tightens its embrace.</p>
<h2>The many versions of subversion</h2>
<p>Some of the most well-known of Banksy’s subversive artistic predecessors were part of the early-20th century <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Dada">Dada movement</a>. One of their principal strategies involved denying the market of objects that could be commodified. </p>
<p>French-American artist Marcel Duchamp is perhaps the most well-known Dadaist. In 1917, his “<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/duchamp-fountain-t07573">Fountain</a>,” a urinal laid on its back and remounted on a pedestal, was his first volley against the art market’s intellectual pretenses about art. </p>
<p>Duchamp wanted to force the art world to acknowledge that its judgments about quality were based on media hype and money rather than artistic innovation. </p>
<p>However, years later <a href="http://www.golob-gm.si/5-marcel-duchamp-as-rectified-readymade/h-aesthetic-indifference-of-marcel-duchamp-fountain.htm#FNanchor_52">Duchamp admitted</a> to the futility of his gesture. </p>
<p>“I threw … the urinal into their faces as a challenge,” he lamented, “and now they admire [it] for [its] aesthetic beauty.” </p>
<p>In 1920, Francis Picabia, a Cuban-French Dadaist would follow Duchamp’s lead and participate in a performance purposefully designed to provoke the French art world. </p>
<p>Before a Parisian audience gathered at the Palais des Fêtes, Picabia unveiled a chalk drawing entitled “Riz au Nez” (“Rice on the Nose”). The artist’s friend, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andre-Breton">André Breton</a>, one of the hosts of the event, then erased the drawing. The artwork lasted for just a of couple hours and is now lost to history. The work’s title, it’s been <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=SD2RZ3taYQUC&pg=PA512&lpg=PA512&dq=steven+whiting+picabia&source=bl&ots=UYgPVr2Q1W&sig=-PlhOJK5llsYJpPP3NqCiE_Yb9k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjF8ffXnI_eAhUovFkKHWvDByIQ6AEwCHoECAAQAQ#v=onepage&q=steven%20whiting%20picabia&f=false">noted</a>, sounds too similar to “rire au nez” (“to laugh in one’s face”) to be coincidental. </p>
<p>In 1953, Robert Rauschenberg, who was then an up-and-coming American artist, plucked up the courage to ask Willem de Kooning, an established abstract expressionist, for one of his drawings. Rauschenberg didn’t tell de Kooning much – just that he intended to use it for an unusual project. Athough de Kooning was disapproving, he acquiesced. </p>
<p>After securing his gift, Rauschenberg proceeded, over the period of a month, to carefully erase all traces of the expressive pencil, charcoal and crayon drawing that de Kooning had put to paper. </p>
<p>Rauschenberg then re-titled the work, now preserved in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Art, “<a href="https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/98.298/research-materials/document/EDeK_98.298_031/">Erased de Kooning Drawing</a>.” </p>
<p>Jean Tinguely’s auto-destructing work, “<a href="https://vimeo.com/218619751">Homage to New York</a>” (1960), is probably the closest parallel to Banksy’s stunt. Made of scrap found in New Jersey junkyards, the massive work – 27 feet high and 23 feet in length – was supposed to be a mechanical display, sort of like <a href="https://www.rubegoldberg.com/">a Rube Goldberg device</a>.</p>
<p>The piece was set up the sculpture garden of New York’s Museum of Modern Art, and those attending the show included collectors Walter Arensberg and John D. Rockefeller III, and artists John Cage, Mark Rothko and Robert Rauschenberg.</p>
<p>Tinguely briefly set the piece in motion – and then it burst into flames.</p>
<p>The Museum of Modern Art <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81174">described the scene</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“… a meteorological trial balloon inflated and burst, colored smoke was discharged, paintings were made and destroyed, and bottles crashed to the ground. A player piano, metal drums, a radio broadcast, a recording of the artist explaining his work, and a competing shrill voice correcting him provided the cacophonic sound track to the machine’s self-destruction – until it was stopped short by the fire department.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Apart from a fragment from Tinguely’s “Homage” preserved in the <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/works/81174">MoMA collection</a>, all that remains of the work is some choppy film footage.</p>
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<p>It’s difficult to imagine anyone surpassing Tinguely’s sound-and-light spectacle. </p>
<p>But in 2001, Michael Landy of the Young British Artists group orchestrated the most comprehensive “art as destruction” work to date.</p>
<p>Titled “<a href="http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160713-michael-landy-the-man-who-destroyed-all-his-belongings">Break Down</a>,” Landy placed objects on a conveyor belt running into a machine that pulverized them. In the process, he destroyed all of his belongings – 7,227 pieces in all – including his own paintings and the art of his Young British Artist peers. </p>
<h2>Guerrillas in the midst</h2>
<p>These acts of destruction are motivated by the same impulse.</p>
<p>In the late 19th century, art production largely <a href="https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/modern-europe/british-and-irish-history/artistic-patronage">became untethered from patronage offered by the church or the state</a>, and artists turned to powerful art dealers for their livelihood.</p>
<p>But many found that the radical, critical aspect of the artistic act was severely compromised – or erased altogether – when the most well-known feature of a work became the dollar sign attached to it. </p>
<p>To many, the market symbolized nothing more than a void. </p>
<p>With the urban street as his studio and insurgency as part of his artistic mission, Banksy’s graffiti often critiques institutions, such as the art museum, and authority figures like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/apr/21/banksy-kissing-copppers-sold-america">the police</a>) and the <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/9310201/Banksy-draws-the-Queen-as-Ziggy-Stardust.html">Queen of England</a>.</p>
<p>Though the market value of his work has soared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/07/arts/design/banksy-artwork-painting.html">recent years</a>, Banksy continues to paint images in public spaces that make preservation near impossible – and even invite theft or defacement. </p>
<p>Still, as guerrilla theater, Banksy’s recent act will be tough to beat. It’s certainly his most subversive and penetrating public foray into the elite art marketplace.</p>
<p>But even with all his critique, the question continues to nag: Is Banksy complicit with the art market? The very society he undermines, one that feeds on spectacle, has made him famous and his art immensely <a href="https://www.widewalls.ch/10-most-expensive-banksy-artworks-at-auctions/think-tank/">profitable</a>. </p>
<p>In the wake of World War I, Dadaist artists made a practice of shocking their public audiences by wantonly destroying their own artistic creations. The public soon learned to cheer them on, and to detach themselves from the attack artists were actively waging on their sensibilities. </p>
<p>A century later, at Sotheby’s, the initial shock of a shredded “Girl With Balloon” dissipated quickly. The hype only grew. The market adapted.</p>
<p>Sotheby’s has since released a <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/latest-banksy-artwork-love-is-in-the-bin-created-live-at-auction">statement</a> declaring that the piece – renamed “Love is in the Bin” – is “the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104810/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Preminda Jacob does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When artists destroy their works, it’s usually to express their disdain for critics, dealers and curators. But does this get lost in the attention, hype and money that follows?Preminda Jacob, Associate Professor of Art History and Museum Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1046602018-10-10T12:04:36Z2018-10-10T12:04:36ZBanksy: I was in the room when his painting shredded – and enhanced his brand<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/239913/original/file-20181009-72121-de1092.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Art with a wow factor.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Banksy/Instagram</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Serious collectors of contemporary art had already started to leave the room at the Sotheby’s New Bond Street auction house in London last Friday night as a successful evening sale drew to a close. Most people seemed more interested in getting to their post-auction dinners than in the final two lots: paintings by <a href="https://hypebeast.com/people/kaws">KAWS</a> and Banksy, who are generally perceived to be interesting for new or young buyers but not serious collectors. KAWS, the American graffiti artist also known as Brian Donnelly, is seen as too comic; Banksy as too “street”. </p>
<p>That doesn’t mean they are not in high demand. KAWS’ large yellow comic face, Again and Again, sold for just over £1m, making him – in the words of auctioneer Oliver Barker – the Damien Hirst of the 21st century. And the last lot of the sale was Banksy’s 2006 Girl with Balloon, which was last year named in one survey as the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40717821">UK’s favourite artwork</a>. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, bidding was intense and the hammer came down at £860,000, making a final sales price (including buyer’s fees) of £1,042,000 – quadrupling the previous estimate of the work. But the moment after the hammer came down a faint alarm went off in the room and, shortly after, in front of a roomful of gawping faces, the canvas slipped out of the frame, being shredded in the process by some concealed machine, before being hurriedly carried away by attendants. </p>
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<p>Under near chaotic circumstances, the sale ended. At the delayed press conference, all Sotheby’s experts would say was: “<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/sothebys-gets-banksyed-at-contemporary-art-auction-in-london">We got Banksy-ed</a>”. And all they did was to reiterate that they had no prior knowledge of the prank, failing to shift attention away from it. </p>
<h2>Performance art</h2>
<p>In our media crazy society, everyone likes a prank – especially when it hits the top end of the art market which excludes all but the very rich. So to nobody’s surprise this story has gone viral, cheered on by Banksy’s “official” Instagram feed, where he not only claimed ownership of the prank, but also “documented” its genesis. </p>
<p>Since then, speculation around the value of the shredded piece and Banksy’s role in the art world has led to a lot of hype. But what needs to be considered here is not only value generation in the art market but ultimately the role and agency of the artist within the market’s resale structure, where artists usually benefit only marginally from the resale of any of their works. That the stunt happened during the <a href="https://frieze.com/fairs/frieze-london">Frieze Art Fairs</a>, one of the most important art fairs for contemporary art worldwide, has also given it added currency.</p>
<p>As a case study, the prank has been so successful that it will occupy the art world – as well as academics and students of the art market – for a long time to come. It might even become art history’s most famous stunt. Who are the involved parties, for example? Despite a <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/banksy-painting-questions-intl/index.html">great deal of speculative comment</a>, I don’t think Sotheby’s was in on the game. The story really doesn’t benefit them; it detracted from all the other good news the evening was supposed to spread. </p>
<p>At this point, Sotheby’s is still claiming – and it does sound plausible – not to have touched the work or its frame, following the instructions of Banksy’s studio that the frame is an integral part of the work. Again, not unusual. Neither does the inclusion of the piece in the auction come as a surprise. As a quick search on <a href="https://www.artnet.com/price-database/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8uCM-q373QIVg53VCh1GaAnDEAAYASAAEgLPevD_BwE">Artnet’s price database</a> shows, no less than <a href="http://www.artnet.com/artists/banksy/past-auction-results/4">26 works by Banksy</a> have been offered this year alone at auction – most of them with very good results above estimates. Banksy is hot. </p>
<p>So the fact that the work sold for more than £1m is not surprising, considering both the previous auction prices of the artists and the buoyant atmosphere of the sale that evening.</p>
<p>More interesting, of course, is what the work is worth now. Despite excitement by the press, claiming that it would now be worth far more (and what appears to be a copycat attempt by a collector to <a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/banksy-artwork-plummets-40000-1-13387036">shred his own print copy of the painting</a>), the case has not been decided contractually yet. In a comment to the author, the auction house states it is unclear whether the sale will go through and that negotiations are still ongoing. There is a debate to be had that the buyer obviously bid on a work in pristine condition – and we won’t know if the work is worth double its sale price until it has been sold again in this state. </p>
<p>It’s a tempting thought – and a terrific story – but an artist’s stunt and a weekend buzz are not a guarantor for ongoing investment value. It will, however, surely alert any auction house to ensure proper due diligence and conservation examinations when taking on more of his works.</p>
<h2>Banksy’s brand</h2>
<p>But where does Banksy stand, as someone who so happily seems to claim to stand outside the market? Given he is so against the resale of his work, has he attempted to sabotage more of his works? As mentioned above, his paintings as well as prints often come up at auction and have been an integral part of his output for years. For street artists who have become famous for often radical actions, the question of how to interact with a collector market has always been a challenge. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240013/original/file-20181010-72117-1vtujma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240013/original/file-20181010-72117-1vtujma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240013/original/file-20181010-72117-1vtujma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240013/original/file-20181010-72117-1vtujma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240013/original/file-20181010-72117-1vtujma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240013/original/file-20181010-72117-1vtujma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240013/original/file-20181010-72117-1vtujma.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksy Swinger in New Orleans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Infrogmation of New Orleans</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But one thing is for sure: if this was instigated by Banksy as a marketing stunt it was a big success. Even if the future of this particular Girl with Balloon is as yet unclear, Banksy’s name will be in everybody’s mind and his brand value has definitely risen. </p>
<p>So let’s wait and see what he will produce and sell next. In the meantime, the people cashing in on this story are also the so-called art experts who keep media outlets busy with comments – most of them, let’s not forget, unproven and highly speculative. And as such this story is a perfect image of the contemporary art market today – about money, but at least as much about the buzz.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104660/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Dieckvoss does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Was it a marketing stunt or a critique of the market itself?Stephanie Dieckvoss, Senior Lecturer, Kingston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/845242017-09-22T14:48:49Z2017-09-22T14:48:49ZBanksy strikes again: Basquiat, graffiti, and the issue of copyright law<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187174/original/file-20170922-17256-5sobrk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.paimages.co.uk/search-results/fluid/?q=jean%20michel%20basquiat&amber_border=1&category=A,S,E&fields_0=all&fields_1=all&green_border=1&imagesonly=1&orientation=both&red_border=1&words_0=all&words_1=all#2.5949588">PA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Banksy is back, in his own iconic style.</p>
<p>Two murals by the British street artist have been spotted on the walls of the Barbican Centre in London, which is hosting <a href="https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2017/event/basquiat-boom-for-real">Boom for Real</a>, a major exhibition dedicated to the genius of American artist <a href="http://www.theartstory.org/artist-basquiat-jean-michel.htm">Jean-Michel Basquiat</a>.</p>
<p>The first mural represents a ferris wheel (with Basquiat-inspired crowns replacing the wheel’s passenger cars) with people queuing up at the ticket booth. It makes fun of the exhibition’s organisers, confirmed by Banksy’s Instagram post presenting the new artwork: “Major new Basquiat show opens at the Barbican – a place that is normally very keen to clean any graffiti from its walls.”</p>
<p>Basquiat himself started his <a href="http://www.basquiat.com/artist.htm">career</a> in the 1970s spraying <a href="http://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/37058/1/al-diaz-on-samo-and-basquiat">artworks</a>, messages and tags in the streets of New York City, often with his schoolmate and graffiti artist <a href="https://al-diaz.com/about/">Al Diaz</a>.</p>
<p>The second Barbican mural depicts a figure being frisked by two policemen, which bears more than just a likeness to Basquiat’s 1982 piece, <a href="http://www.theartwolf.com/masterworks/basquiat.htm">Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump</a>. Again, Banksy seems to mock the exhibition celebrating a former graffiti artist, highlighting how harshly street artists – who frequently face serious legal consequences including jail time – are treated by the police.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BZJELJiAmb5/?taken-by=banksy","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Saving valuable art?</h2>
<p>Would it be possible to prevent the removal of Banksy’s new creations? It is difficult to foresee what the fate of these potentially very <a href="https://www.verdict.co.uk/new-banksy-in-london/">valuable</a> murals will be. The walls belong to the City of London Corporation, which has <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-41303851">not yet decided</a> whether to keep them or even protect them. As has often happened in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/14/arts/design/another-banksy-mural-to-go-from-wall-to-auction.html?mcubz=0">past</a> with Banksy’s street artworks, they may soon be cut from the wall, exhibited and then offered for sale for six-figure sums.</p>
<p>The elusive Bristol street artist has strongly disapproved of such <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-news/10785417/Banksy-condemns-disgusting-Stealing-Banksy-exhibition-on-opening-day.html">removals</a>. But he has never taken legal action to try to prevent removal by relying on copyright and moral rights laws.</p>
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<p>This is probably due to the fact that Banksy often paints his murals illegally, namely without the authorisation of the owner of the wall, which exposes him to prosecution for defacement of property. Plus, he believes that copyright law is “<a href="https://sixestate.com/the-grey-realm-of-copyright-stick-to-the-basics/">for losers</a>”. </p>
<p>But let’s imagine for a minute that Banksy changes his mind and wants to react in court against the removal and “indoor-isation” of his murals. Could he successfully invoke the so-called “<a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/80">integrity</a> right”, which allows artists to oppose treatment of artworks that are prejudicial to their honour or reputation?</p>
<p>On the one hand, he could argue that his reputation is harmed by such treatment of his street artworks, as the public may think he has condoned it, which would <a href="https://mswin001.wordpress.com/2015/04/29/21/">tarnish</a> his anti-establishment and anti-consumerist image.</p>
<p>On the other, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/48/section/80">copyright statute</a> does not expressly provide artists with the ability to oppose the exhibition, or in general publication, of their works in contexts different from those chosen by the artists themselves: which may represent an obstacle in any proceedings against someone who exhibits Banksy’s removed murals.</p>
<h2>Could the Basquiat estate sue Banksy?</h2>
<p>But could Banksy find himself embroiled in a legal fight for an alleged copyright infringement? We have seen how his own murals have incorporated an <a href="https://www.desktopbackground.org/wallpaper/boy-and-dog-in-a-johnnypump-basquiat-jean-michel-wikiart-org-765241">entire Basquiat work</a> and the stylised <a href="https://getbevel.com/bevelcode/interviews/the-aesthetic-legacy-of-basquiats-crowns">crowns</a> used and popularised by the American artist.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187176/original/file-20170922-17248-1cpcsn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187176/original/file-20170922-17248-1cpcsn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187176/original/file-20170922-17248-1cpcsn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187176/original/file-20170922-17248-1cpcsn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187176/original/file-20170922-17248-1cpcsn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187176/original/file-20170922-17248-1cpcsn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187176/original/file-20170922-17248-1cpcsn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/187176/original/file-20170922-17248-1cpcsn1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jean Michel Basquiat was a street artist himself before he became the darling of a New York art scene dominated by Andy Warhol.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.epa.eu/arts-culture-and-entertainment-photos/arts-general-photos/photograph-of-american-artist-jean-michel-basquiat-1960-1988-in-his-workshop-in-noho-new-york-in-front-of-his-work-entitled-flexible-1984--photos-02392692">epa</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The first issue is related to Banksy’s anonymity. Should the Basquiat estate plan on going after the famous British artist, who should they sue? Despite various theories surrounding his <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/who-is-banksy-we-rank-the-ten-most-plausible-theories-699059">identity</a>, nobody outside his inner circle really knows who Banksy is. That may not be an insurmountable obstacle, though. A legal action could probably be started against the entity behind the banksy.co.uk website and the related Instagram account which are displaying pictures of the murals.</p>
<p>Also, far from just being an homage to Basquiat and a lawful use of a copyrighted work (for example, under the fair dealing exception for <a href="http://www.copyrightuser.org/understand/exceptions/quotation/">criticism or review</a>), the two murals, especially the one depicting the figure frisked by two police officers, might be considered as unlawfully reproducing substantial parts of copyright-protected pieces of art. Canvases, <a href="https://www.canvasartrocks.com/products/banksy-basquiat-metropolitan-police-canvas-print-or-poster">prints</a>, posters and even tea cups depicting Banksy’s murals can already be readily found on the internet, produced by people not linked to the street artist.</p>
<p>Most probably, such legal action will never get up much steam. The Basquiat estate will find it counter-productive to pick up a legal fight with the most appreciated urban artist in the world. They may be quite happy with the increased interest the murals have garnered for the current exhibition.</p>
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<p>But street artists like Banksy who frequently incorporate in their murals <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/01/27/google-digitises-banksys-les-misrables-mural-as-it-is-taken-down/">copyrighted works of others</a> may soon need to pay more attention if they want to avoid getting into legal troubles. The more graffiti artists enter the mainstream and increase their notoriety, the higher the chances they will receive complaints and be condemned if their works <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/news/judge-rules-run-dmc-photo-used-by-la-street-artist-mr-brainwash-protected-by-copyright-law-what-will-it-mean-for-fair-use-2397771">infringe</a> others’ copyright.</p>
<p>Whatever happens to Banksy’s murals, I wonder what Basquiat, if he were around today, would make of all this. He might have been delighted about the clever murals, having started out himself as a graffiti artist. Or he might have thanked Banksy for creating a nice media-friendly buzz for his exhibition. But as an artist who later successfully entered the professional art market, and understood its driving forces, Basquiat might also think: “Hey Banksy, that’s my stuff. That’s not cool.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Enrico Bonadio does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Guerilla street artist Banksy has livened up the new Basquiat exhibition in London with some choice murals outside. But is it an homage or infringement?Enrico Bonadio, Senior Lecturer in Law, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/753022017-04-03T19:19:22Z2017-04-03T19:19:22ZBanksy’s Bethlehem hotel is an example of how tourism can be political<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162847/original/image-20170328-21225-1jecw02.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Inside Banksy's Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ayman Abuzuluf (supplied)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We have all been tourists, and therefore think we know what tourism is. In the modern world, tourism is viewed as an important industry, providing jobs and economic growth. At the same time, tourism and tourists are sometimes looked down on, seen as awkward and ignorant. </p>
<p>Largely forgotten is an earlier era in which tourism was viewed as a tool of politics and a subject of political analysis. </p>
<p>A good example of the latter was Linda Richter’s book, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YMEt8oGY6fEC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Linda+Richter%27s+The+Politics+of+Tourism+In+Asia&ots=-thy_NI2rf&sig=RQZ_GLVjlybxRTC0m5VUNNkyKOA#v=onepage&q=Linda%20Richter's%20The%20Politics%20of%20Tourism%20In%20Asia&f=false">The Politics of Tourism in Asia</a>. Richter demonstrated how tourism might serve political ends through several Asian case studies.</p>
<p>However, since the onset of the market era, tourism has been promoted as an “industry” of considerable economic importance to national governments. This has overshadowed the capacities of tourism to foster political engagement, political advocacy, and activism.</p>
<h2>Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel</h2>
<p>Enter celebrated graffiti artist Banksy and his opening in March 2017 of the “<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/artist-banksy-opens-bethlehem-hotel-20170303-guqmt9.html">Walled Off Hotel</a>” in Bethlehem. </p>
<p>The hotel is situated across the street from the Separation Wall. Israel has constructed this wall to separate itself from its occupied Palestinian territories. <a href="http://banksy.co.uk/rooms.html">Marketed as</a> “the hotel with the worst view in the world”, Banksy’s hotel is reviving the profile of tourism as a political tool. </p>
<p>Banksy has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/arts/pictures/0,,1543331,00.html">shown solidarity</a> with Palestine and Palestinians before. But the opening of a hotel that international visitors, Israelis and Palestinians can visit is a novel approach that has sparked both interest and controversy. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/banksys-walled-off-hotel-palestinians-under-occupation-reduced-to-a-spectacle-20170310-guvw6h.html">controversy</a> has emerged as pundits debate whether it is a legitimate tool for intervention in the Palestine-Israel conflict, or an exercise in elite privilege. </p>
<p>One analysis refers to the concept of “<a href="http://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-walled-off-hotel-the-struggle-for-decolonization/">occu-tourism</a>” to describe the voyeurism that some tourists engage in when their visits do little to overturn the injustice in Palestine or the wider global context. </p>
<p>Rather than viewing the Walled Off as an art installation offering political commentary, it is more useful to see it as a <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_Review-g293978-d12220602-Reviews-The_Walled_Off_Hotel-Bethlehem_West_Bank.html">working hotel</a> with a capacity for sparking political awareness.</p>
<p>Banksy has funded this nine-room hotel to operate for <a href="http://walledoffhotel.com/questions.html">at least 2017</a>, and possibly longer. The Walled Off is run by hotel staff who will work at the hotel while it is kept open; they are not performers.</p>
<h2>Occupying a room under occupation</h2>
<p>Placing an operating hotel on a site where guests can feel the oppression of the wall and experience the surveillance of an Israeli watchtower works to embed visitors in the occupation. </p>
<p>While there are luxury rooms (“the palatial suite is equipped with everything a corrupt head of state would need”), there is also a budget room fitted out with Israeli military bunks for US$30 a night. This affordable accommodation suggests an effort to engage more widely than with just the elite fans of Banksy’s art. </p>
<p>Visitors to the Walled Off will experience being walled off by walls, checkpoints and security checks. Such experiences should provoke empathy and insight. </p>
<p>The Walled Off experience contrasts with the standard Holy Land tours where international tourists may not realise their Bethlehem visit has transported them into occupied Palestinian territory (due to Israeli maps not identifying this territory as separate from Israel and half-day tour itineraries dominated by <a href="http://www.eggedtours.com/bethlehem/bethlehem-tour.aspx">Israeli-owned companies</a>. </p>
<p>Like his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/aug/20/banksy-dismaland-amusements-anarchism-weston-super-mare">Dismaland installation</a> in the UK in 2015, Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel encourages us to question our choices and our roles in an increasingly unequal and unjust world. </p>
<p>Are we to be voyeurs using our tourism and leisure opportunities for selfish ends? Or can we feel the experiences of others in places like the Walled Off and be moved to advocacy and action? Is the hotel a space of promising political engagement and can tourism change anything beyond the selfish hedonism of the escapism currently promoted?</p>
<h2>Tourism: a promising tool of political change?</h2>
<p>Those who organise and host tourism for political advocacy demonstrate commitment to its efficacy. </p>
<p>From Cuban solidarity tours, to tours to visit the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/05/pope-francis-mexico-visit-chiapas-indigenous-people-zapatistas">Zapatista revolutionaries of Chiapas</a>, to the accommodation of the <a href="https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/24/workers-unite-at-an-argentine-hotel/">Hotel Bauen</a> (a hotel taken back by the workers in Buenos Aires), supporters flock to learn and engage. </p>
<p>More broadly, the American-based human rights organisation <a href="http://www.globalexchange.org/">Global Exchange</a> has offered human rights tours to sites around the world for advocacy for justice. </p>
<p>In Palestine, the <a href="http://atg.ps/">Alternative Tourism Group</a> has modelled “justice tourism” and helped tourists to learn from Palestinian (and Israeli) human rights advocates on the region’s issues. </p>
<p>Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel invites us to consider the value of tourism as a political tool. Palestinians want to be heard, and Banksy has used his celebrity platform to draw attention to the injustices of occupation.</p>
<p>Occupying a room at the Walled Off, a tourist can contemplate in a real way who is mobile and who is not, and how our choices are implicated in such circumstances.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75302/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Freya Higgins-Desbiolles has co-researched with the Alternative Tourism Group of Palestine. She is affiliated with the Australian Friends of Palestine Association, a not-for-profit community organisation based in South Autralia actively engaged in advocacy for a just peace between Palestine and Israel.
She has authored a research chapter entitled "Walled off from the world- Palestine, tourism and resisting occupation" found in her co-edited book "The Politics and Power of Tourism in Palestine" published by Routledge in 2016.</span></em></p>Banksy’s Walled Off Hotel invites us to consider the value of tourism as a political tool.Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, Senior Lecturer in Tourism, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/666792016-10-07T04:39:04Z2016-10-07T04:39:04ZCommodifying Banksy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140826/original/image-20161007-32737-uraq13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Councils around the world have removed, destroyed or defaced Banksy's artwork – but a controversial new show in Melbourne celebrates his work. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rise of Banksy/Supplied</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Take a selection of artworks by the most famous illicit artist in the world, add a city that’s passionate about its street art and a dash of controversy: the result is the new Melbourne exhibition <a href="http://fedsquare.com/events/the-art-of-banksy">The Art of Banksy</a>. </p>
<p>Named in 2010 as one of the 100 most influential figures in the world, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Banksy">Banksy’s</a> career began in Bristol in the 1990s, where he enthusiastically participated in the city’s graffiti scene. In the early 2000s, he adopted stencilling as a technique, and became part of the art movement now called street art. Whereas graffiti involves a stylised calligraphy that centres on the repeated writing of an individual’s chosen name, or “tag”, street art allowed for a greater diversity of content and technique: with paste ups, stencils and layered images. </p>
<p>Banksy organised events in London such as Santa’s Ghetto, where an empty shop was taken over for the display of works on canvas or paper by artists – thus by-passing the gallery system - and his print workshop Pictures on Walls made editions of prints by various artists available for online purchase at affordable prices. </p>
<p>These print editions became so popular that fans would spend hours online attempting to buy works. While some wanted to own a Banksy print, others were buying for re-sale. His prints quickly acquired a secondary market – increasing fivefold in value in a day. After the financial crisis of 2009, the market value of work by many street artists faltered – but the price of Banksy works did not. He has maintained that crossover from the street to the mainstream art world.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140829/original/image-20161007-32704-z58ni.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140829/original/image-20161007-32704-z58ni.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140829/original/image-20161007-32704-z58ni.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140829/original/image-20161007-32704-z58ni.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140829/original/image-20161007-32704-z58ni.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140829/original/image-20161007-32704-z58ni.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140829/original/image-20161007-32704-z58ni.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140829/original/image-20161007-32704-z58ni.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banky’s street art is highly distinctive and sought after.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Art of Banksy is the direct consequence of his successful negotiation of the dividing line between the street and the art business. Indeed, the show exhibits works owned by private collectors, including Banksy’s former business manager Steve Lazarides, proprietor of the Lazarides gallery in London – famous both for his long association with Banksy and their very public estrangement. </p>
<p>The exhibition provides equal billing for both Banksy and Lazarides, who is credited as the show’s curator. Much has been made in the media about the artist’s purported unhappiness with the exhibition (“the show is definitely unauthorised”) Lazarides <a href="https://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/art-and-design/article/first-look-art-banksy">told one journalist</a>. But this is by no means unusual, as I’ve written about in my book, <a href="https://www.newsouthbooks.com.au/books/street-art-world/">Street Art World</a>. </p>
<p>Works owned by private collectors are often shown in galleries with no consent needed from an artist. The Andipa Gallery in London was the first in 2007 to exhibit privately owned Banksy works, and the street art show Outpost, held in Sydney in 2011, exhibited Banksy works from George Shaw’s New Zealand-based collection.</p>
<p>The Melbourne exhibition is housed in a marquee in a disused car park, next to the train lines at the back of Federation Square. Local artists such as Be Free, Heesco, George Rose and Bailer have painted works on panels lining the entrance to the marquee.</p>
<p>Inside, the show is all Banksy. But the works are not displayed in a conventional gallery setting. The interior is said to be “inspired by the streets of London”, and is organised around the recreation of shopfronts, city streets and dimly lit spaces. The majority of works are prints, which line the “walls” of these recreated streets, with some larger pieces on canvas, tarpaulin or wood. There are also a few sculptural pieces, such as Bullet-Proof David (Suicide Bomber) from 2006. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140828/original/image-20161007-32731-hy5ewv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140828/original/image-20161007-32731-hy5ewv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140828/original/image-20161007-32731-hy5ewv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140828/original/image-20161007-32731-hy5ewv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140828/original/image-20161007-32731-hy5ewv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140828/original/image-20161007-32731-hy5ewv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140828/original/image-20161007-32731-hy5ewv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140828/original/image-20161007-32731-hy5ewv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banksy artwork is displayed on fake, London-style streetscapes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For those who have only ever seen Banksy works online or in books and films, the show provides a chance to see his art close up, and it’s certainly interesting to analyse the works for their signature techniques (limited colour range, satirical text, humour, and light political themes). They also give a glimpse into a key period in Banksy’s artistic development, the early-late 2000s. </p>
<p>It was during this period, in 2003, that Banksy visited Melbourne, and painted its streets. Still, if Melbourne has been waiting 13 years for his work to return to the city, then this show is something of a disappointment. Some installation choices do not serve the art well. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140831/original/image-20161007-32704-mxqve3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140831/original/image-20161007-32704-mxqve3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140831/original/image-20161007-32704-mxqve3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140831/original/image-20161007-32704-mxqve3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140831/original/image-20161007-32704-mxqve3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=910&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140831/original/image-20161007-32704-mxqve3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140831/original/image-20161007-32704-mxqve3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140831/original/image-20161007-32704-mxqve3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1144&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flying Copper hanging in a frame.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A number of works are badly displayed: Bullet-Proof David is half-hidden by curtains and diminished by being placed on the floor rather than a plinth. Many near-identical prints are included; and there’s little effort made to contextualise the videos that run in some of the rooms. </p>
<p>Visitors who don’t know much about Banksy’s history may find themselves struggling to work out what they are seeing. The streetscape has an eerie artificiality: no London street ever looked so antiseptically clean and tidy. </p>
<h2>Rife with contradictions</h2>
<p>Exhibiting Banksy in Melbourne is also rife with contradictions. Banksy is much loved by Australia’s street art community, many of whom fondly remember his visit here. His remaining works in the city are regarded as endangered - gradually fading as the years go by, and also at risk from council cleaning crews and construction workers. </p>
<p>In 2010, a council worker <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/council-cleanup-claims-banksy-artwork-20100427-tpgf.html">painted over a Banksy rat</a> in Hosier Lane, not realising it had been painted by the world’s most famous street artist. The outcry prompted the deputy mayor to apologise to the city for the loss of a cultural icon - which in turn led to anger among members of the local street art community, who face severe penalties if caught painting on walls without permission. </p>
<p>Illicit art is still subject to prosecution and punishment in Melbourne: Victoria has some of the harshest penalties in Australia for graffiti, and while Melbourne’s Lord Mayor, who attended the exhibition’s opening party, has spoken publicly about his support for street art, it’s clear that his support is for murals done with permission in designated places. </p>
<p>Banksy’s street works - which are illegal - would be categorised as vandalism if done in Melbourne. For all Melbourne’s reputation as one of the street art capitals of the world, its city authorities have an uneasy relationship with the art form.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140827/original/image-20161007-32734-70urnr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140827/original/image-20161007-32734-70urnr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140827/original/image-20161007-32734-70urnr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140827/original/image-20161007-32734-70urnr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140827/original/image-20161007-32734-70urnr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140827/original/image-20161007-32734-70urnr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140827/original/image-20161007-32734-70urnr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140827/original/image-20161007-32734-70urnr.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gift shop merchandise at the show.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Back in 2003, when Banksy was visiting Melbourne, street art was seen as a way of circumventing the gallery system and about creating artwork for the public, free or at a low cost. So much of that has changed: street art is now highly commercial.</p>
<p>But it’s not so much that artists are selling their work at higher and higher prices: to make a living from one’s art is an understandable ambition. But nowadays street art has been turned into a range of secondary products: calendars, gift cards, tea towels, and T shirts. Given that the exhibition represented an opportunity to provide an Australian audience with a chance to see so many Banksy works in one place, what is really surprising about The Art of Banksy is the way that its commercial interests seem to outweigh the display of the artworks. Entrance to the show is $30, and, upon reaching the end, visitors find themselves confronted with a range of secondary merchandise for sale: baseball caps, mugs, cloth bags and fridge magnets. </p>
<p>Is this “exit through the gift shop” an ironic and knowing wink at Banksy’s critique of the commercialisation of street art in his 2010 movie? Is it possible to own an ironic Banksy mug? </p>
<p>In the city where street artists can be punished for possession of a spray can, The Art of Banksy takes the commodification of Banksy one step too far.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/66679/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Young received funding from the Australian Research Council to research legal, social and cultural responses to street art.</span></em></p>An exhibition in Melbourne of work by the world’s most famous street artist is replete with ironies: from the eerily neat faux London streetscape in which the works hang to the hefty price tag and copious merchandise.Alison Young, Francine V. McNiff Professor of Criminology, University of Melbourne, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/626832016-07-19T20:07:33Z2016-07-19T20:07:33ZFor lovers of graffiti, Pokémon Go is old hat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131017/original/image-20160719-13843-1kw56yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pokemon Go demonstrates how graffiti has grown into a new form of social media.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Koppenbadger/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For those of us who practice or follow graffiti and street art, the Pokémon Go craze doesn’t seem that new – and not just because street art and graffiti feature so prominently in the game play.</p>
<p>Rather, graffiti and street art provide a prior model for the Pokémon Go brand of mobile, collective urban gaming. We have seen the frenzied, phone-wielding crowds of urban hunters before. When the world’s best-known street artist Banksy staged an informal residency in New York in 2013, for instance, he installed 31 artworks across the city, leaving clues to their whereabouts. </p>
<p>The documentary <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3995006/">Banksy Does New York</a> (2014) shows the crowds of New Yorkers who raced across the city to capture the works before they were removed or destroyed, just like the crowds reportedly flocking this week to a rare Pokémon site in Central Park.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graffiti art featured in Banksy Does New York (2014)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HBO</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I tried Pokémon Go on Friday in Fitzroy, and was surprised how many sites within the game were actual pieces of street art – both commissioned murals and illegal graffiti bombing. </p>
<p>Even though the game claims to use traditional public art forms such as “monuments and sculptures” as the sites where players can congregate to collect equipment (Pokéstops) or catch Pokémon (Gyms), in practice the architecture of the game “recognises” a much wider array of art forms. </p>
<p>It even displayed clunky names for artworks, such as “Scary Halloween mural” for a graffiti piece in Northcote that includes a few random demon characters. </p>
<p>In my brief test run in Fitzroy, about half of the Pokéstops were spray-painted examples of street art or graffiti. Others were public artworks that I rarely notice, such as Giuseppe Raneri’s Sun sculpture on Brunswick St. </p>
<p>Yes, it’s dizzying to see small critters dancing on the lap of the tram passenger opposite you, but maybe even more confusing to be invited by a phone app to run across Smith St to the Wominjeka Wurundjeri Bik artwork to grab a handful of Pokéballs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Street art in Fitzroy, Melbourne - another Pokestop?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charlievdb/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Where is this data coming from? In part the Pokémon sites are repurposed from Ingress, a previous game by the same makers. Ingress used similar reality augmentation to Pokémon Go to create “portals” throughout cities, combining crowd-sourcing and publicly available data, like Google Street View. </p>
<p>This world of game data is generating a new and more open taxonomy of public art.</p>
<p>In the world of crowd-sourced data, no distinctions are made between an indigenous meeting place, architectural details, street furniture, commissioned murals and illegal street art. </p>
<p>And while Pokémon Go is designed around physically stable sites such as sculptures and monuments, many of the street art sites are also artworks that have been erased or painted over, just one of many glitches in the game.</p>
<p>However, my broader argument is that graffiti and street art are not just a backdrop for the game but rather a template for it and and how to navigate urban space. </p>
<p>Pokémon Go reflects contemporary confusions about being in public and the imperfect overlaps between public institutions, public conduct and public access. </p>
<p>Glitches in the game reflect existing glitches in public space, ones already navigated by street artists and graffiti writers and familiar to followers of these art forms.</p>
<p>The Melbourne-based street artist <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lushsux/?hl=en">Lush</a> has been quick to take to the Pokémon craze, creating sexualised body paintings of lewd Pokémon characters and morphed combinations of US Presidential candidates on the streets.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lushsux/Instagram</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like Banksy, Lush had already seen crowds of hunters searching for his artworks, such as his series of murals of <a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/celebrity-selfies/theres-a-giant-mural-of-a-nude-kim-kardashian-in-melbourne/news-story/7d0215be8d7020f912345f8c9f96d811">Kim Kardashian selfies</a> or his sequence of of face-swapping Snapchat portraits – all prefiguring the Pokémon gameplay.</p>
<p>Maybe Pokémon Go isn’t as new as it appears and the frequent appearance of street art in the game is less of a coincidence. </p>
<p>The Pokémon craze shows us how graffiti and street art are already forms of social media, their own kind of massive, multi-player game, with their own sites and rewards hidden across the city.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lachlan MacDowall has previously received funding from the City of Melbourne and the City of Stonnington to undertake research into graffiti and street art.</span></em></p>Graffiti and street art are not just a backdrop in Pokémon Go but also a template for how to navigate urban space. Indeed lovers of street art have long played their own kind of multi-player game, with sites and rewards hidden across the city.Lachlan MacDowall, Head, Centre for Cultural Partnerships Faculty of the VCA and MCM, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/465882015-08-26T10:54:19Z2015-08-26T10:54:19ZIt should be a capitalist flop, but Banksy’s Dismaland is pure magic<p>It’s not easy being a superstar anti-establishment art celebrity. Back in the late 1990s I was one of a group of art students who, for a time, became <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/jun/08/martinwainwright">mildly famous as art pranksters</a>. Within the group we could never be sure – and this despite our most earnest efforts – that our work really was the stuff of revolution. But we were in the papers. We were on the Turner Prize programme. We were even offered a book deal. Nonetheless it’s hard to maintain revolutionary kudos once you’ve been interviewed by <a href="http://brillianttv.co.uk/timmymallett/index.php">Timmy Mallett</a>. </p>
<p>And so I feel for Banksy. In Bristol, his <a href="http://visitbristol.co.uk/things-to-do/street-art">street-pieces</a> are still powerful landmarks even if we know, and he knows, what a dichotomy he represents, caught somewhere between art and artifice; an anarchist in capitalist giftwrap. </p>
<p>This being so, I was not expecting much from his latest hyped-up creation, <a href="http://www.dismaland.co.uk/">Dismaland</a>. I assumed it would be trying too hard to recapture that lost edginess; that old sold-out soul. An art Dumbo, painting its face like a clown; an elephantine joke that isn’t funny.</p>
<p>And yet. And yet.</p>
<p>Weston-super-Mare has become a byword for every cliche ever mouthed about the British seaside. Fish-paste sandwiches. Miserable donkeys. Rain. More rain. Somewhere along the seafront, a life-size dummy of the Queen stares out from a hotel window. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92964/original/image-20150825-15920-1s54o7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92964/original/image-20150825-15920-1s54o7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92964/original/image-20150825-15920-1s54o7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92964/original/image-20150825-15920-1s54o7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92964/original/image-20150825-15920-1s54o7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92964/original/image-20150825-15920-1s54o7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92964/original/image-20150825-15920-1s54o7e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Faded glory: Weston-super-Mare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/66176388@N00/1477524387/">Mark Robinson</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The remains of a former landscape are still visible, with golden sand and spectacular sunsets that bleed all over the west-facing coast. But the town itself is challenged. It’s one of the many seaside towns run down by low employment and little investment. </p>
<p>And while towns such as <a href="http://www.esquire.co.uk/food-drink/travel/8101/how-margate-became-the-new-hipsters-paradise/">Margate</a> may have been substantially regenerated by an influx of middle-class urban artists, let’s be clear: nothing would doom Dismaland faster than to see it beswamped by hordes of post-ironic urbanites. </p>
<p>I can only hope that doesn’t happen, because my experience of Dismaland was pure magic.</p>
<p>It came from the children. Among rubble, crumbling brickwork and exposed cabling, children played. They were joyous on the merry-go-round, despite the decorative horse strung up by a cleaver-wielding butcher. With utmost seriousness, children steered miniature boats crammed with miniature migrants towards miniature cliffs of Dover, avoiding the miniature corpses. Somewhere a Shetland pony hung suspended in formaldehyde, a golden narwhal tusk glued to its forehead. The children stared. “Look,” said a mother, almost concealing her anxiety. “A unicorn.”</p>
<p>The pinnacle of it all was the fairy tale palace, modelled dismally on Disney’s core branding. In the absolute gloom, children’s voices were shrill. “I don’t like it.” “I’m scared.” “Look! The princess is really dead. Mum. Have you seen the animals? Look. She is really dead.” And so on.</p>
<h2>Fairytale of Weston-super-Mare</h2>
<p>Disney, of course, has colonised the fairy tale as a medium for extreme capitalism. Banksy, in turn, has re-appropriated it as a vehicle for “<a href="http://www.buro247.com.au/culture-lifestyle/arts/banksy-explains-dismaland-the-eerie-theme-park-for.html">entry-level anarchy</a>”. But fairy tales themselves are intricately bound up with class relations and social power, frequently hinging on rags-to-riches and marrying “up” as the very model of success. </p>
<p>In 1697, <a href="https://librivox.org/author/608?primary_key=608&search_category=author&search_page=1&search_form=get_results">Charles Perrault</a> wrote the first collection of fairy tales for children. In 17th-century France, fairy tales had become a highly stylised literary form created for aristocratic adults; highly wrought and finely tuned for the monied classes. But Perrault’s tales were written under the guise of an old peasant woman: Mother Goose. Aping the style of the oral folk tale, his collection included what would come to be Disney staples such as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. </p>
<p>While folk tales were often morally ambiguous or downright ambivalent, stylised fairy tales were frequently intended to mould social behaviour according to the mores of the rich. Perrault himself was clear about his pedagogical intentions. Such stories were useful since they could be made to contain hidden instructions for children. </p>
<p>It’s no surprise, then, that Disney’s tales have played such a key role in its hyper-capitalist dominion. </p>
<p>But even despite landfills of princess merchandise, Disney too has dabbled in the vaguely horrifying. The death of Bambi’s mother scarred generations of children, as did the Technicolor perversities of Pinocchio’s Pleasure Island. Dumbo’s Pink Elephants are in a class of their own. Watching the children play at Dismaland I was reminded of all these things; and reminded too that there is a value, surely, in allowing children to come face-to-face with their own fears and realities; their unexpressed anxieties, dreams and nightmares; danger and loss.</p>
<p>There is no moral to this particular story. Except to say that, perhaps, Dismaland’s re-imagining of the Disney fairy tale is truer to its folk roots than was intended. While a fairy tale is pinned down and fixed, like a glue-tusked pony in formaldehyde, the folk tale is a living organism that changes with every telling; becoming something different depending on the who, the where and the how. Four weeks from now, perhaps Dismaland itself will be a pickled pony. But on Saturday, it was magic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Banksy has pulled off a modern retelling of ancient fairy tales.Victoria Anderson, Visiting Researcher in Cultural Studies, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/324742014-10-03T11:22:10Z2014-10-03T11:22:10ZBanksy mural in Clacton-on-Sea knocked from its perch – but no tears from me<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/60757/original/wnm4xgkc-1412329964.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 'racist' mural.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.banksy.co.uk</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Banksy is back. Back in the heart of Blighty (deepest Essex to be precise), spraying his musings on our walls. Cue the (now) habitual headlines and opinions. Cue the hysteria. </p>
<p>This time, however, things are slightly different.</p>
<p>Rather than the perspex sheeting and security guards we have become accustomed to, rather than the phone calls to art advisers and estate agents alike, Banksy’s work – a stencilled image of a group of fat, grey, protestatory pigeons rallying against migration – has been unexpectedly knocked from its perch. It has been “buffed”, as it is called in graffiti parlance, erased from the locality of the street (and given infinitely more power and presence because of that very fact).</p>
<p>Tendring District Council is responsible. But although it will have in all likelihood destroyed thousands of (illegal) images this year alone, the removal of this work in particular has become a huge embarrassment both for it, as well, I suspect, for many of the people of Clacton itself. Not only have they lost out on a landmark to boost tourism (due to Banksy’s wild fame) and on a huge windfall if the work (the wall) had been put to auction (due to the equally wild sums his touch generates). </p>
<p>But they have also been made to appear as parochial, philistine and as potentially prejudiced as the pack of pigeons originally depicted. After receiving a complaint about the “racist” nature of the mural, the council had to subsequently admit that the artist’s political satire was lost on them. Their failure to note the intended irony of the image whilst in the midst of a by-election caused by a UKIP defection, has led many to suggest that Banksy’s work spoke truth to power all too loudly. </p>
<h2>The true hypocrisy</h2>
<p>Whilst this may make for a good story, I don’t, unfortunately, believe it for a second. It not only attributes far too much credit, far too much political nous to the local council, but also suggests that the work of anti-graffiti authorities is one of nuanced, critical, aesthetic deliberation: it most assuredly is not. </p>
<p>Local authorities do what local authorities do best. They remove graffiti. They do not cast judgement on it and nor should they (I shudder to think). They do not have a taste for satire or subtlety (even of the Banksy “variety”), but are simply involved in an elaborate game of tag; you put it up, we’ll take it down (and we’ll get paid for it at the same time). </p>
<p>So for me, the true hypocrisy emerges only when pieces such as these are not removed. The double standards, the painful absurdity of the situation, emerges only when it becomes clear that it is simply financial, rather than aesthetic value, that defines “acceptability” within the institutional understanding of graffiti. Once it has financial worth it’s deemed worthy of remaining, it may be shielded by perspex and protected. While it has no financial value, it must be erased. </p>
<p>But this aspect of the Banksy fever never shows its face. And so the conception of the public sphere as a place of consumption and nothing other, a space where everything must generate lucre and the advertising companies reign supreme, remains ever more secure. The embarrassment for Tendring Council is thus the embarrassment of having looked the proverbial gift horse in the mouth. Stupid them for thinking it was “racist” rather than art. Stupid them for whitewashing hard cash.</p>
<p>That said, the anxiety that this provokes within me actually amounts to more than this obsession with value. It emerges instead through Banksy’s whitewashing of any notion of complexity, his whitewashing, as seen within all his markedly political works, of any appearance of grey. Whether focusing on global warfare or animal welfare, child labour or political failure, the empathy and identification that Banksy’s works incite in his viewers surfaces through his remarkably direct, simple approach.</p>
<p>But it is this consciously middle-brow style which comes to diminish the possibility of complexity or paradox. It is this man-of-the-people modesty which fails to acknowledge the instability and open-endedness so present within our contemporary world. While Banksy’s stencils may at first seem so biting and subversive then, their success in fact emerges from how mundane they are, the all too agreeable, populist narratives they promote – the comfortable acquiescence they seek. Who could ever disagree with the facts presented? Who could ever side with the fat grey pigeons over the exotic green bird? </p>
<h2>Very average politics</h2>
<p>Rather than requiring the viewer to think for themselves, the simple sentiments these works provide only pacify us. They reassuringly refortify “our” ideals, generating that warm, fuzzy feeling of self-affirmation. They shore up our sense of right or wrong without ever changing the world around us, comforting us without forcing us to ponder the more uncomfortable truths. They reduce a dense spectrum to a binary of black and white, crushing an issue which needs nuanced exploration into a very base, very crude dichotomy.</p>
<p>Immigration is one such complex, one such uncomfortable, nuanced issue. It is an issue that needs our engagement and debate in a very public, very clear, very open way. Yet Banksy’s Clacton stencil leaves us with only one option, to consent with his view and keep quiet. It fails to examine the fears of citizens in a disadvantaged, unstable part of the UK, to grasp the unease in this underprivileged, working-class town. It fails to engage in the locality of place, to engage in a site where the correlation between the developing democratic deficit and the ominous rise of a populist politics could not be more clear. It simply stifles communication through the stock formulae and stale truisms we have all heard before.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61026/original/thysv77t-1412671893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/61026/original/thysv77t-1412671893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61026/original/thysv77t-1412671893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61026/original/thysv77t-1412671893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61026/original/thysv77t-1412671893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61026/original/thysv77t-1412671893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/61026/original/thysv77t-1412671893.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Google map.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aram Bartholl</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, with all this critique, I could be charged for missing the bigger picture, for failing to applaud Banksy’s effort, at the least, to “tackle” the issue of immigration (not that my approbation is in any way desired). But in my mind, this kind of political art should be about the transformation or incitement of thought. It should attempt – like James Bridle’s life sized <a href="http://shorttermmemoryloss.com/portfolio/project/drone-shadows/">drone shadows</a> – to provoke discourse, not dogma. It should work – as in Mathieu Tremblin’s <a href="http://www.artlyst.com/articles/artist-mathieu-tremblin-creates-trompe-loeil-getty-images-watermark-mural">Getty Images watermarks</a> – to open up, rather than close down an issue. It should function – as in Aram Bartholl’s giant <a href="http://datenform.de/mapeng.html">Map</a> pins – to explore power, rather then merely tell power what it already knows. </p>
<p>But the Clacton Pigeons, as with Banksy’s other political reflections, leave no room for divergent interpretations, leave no space for our thoughts. They work simply as a permissible subversion reinforcing the status quo, a pleasant validation of what we all already know: War is bad. Politicians lie. Racists are revolting.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32474/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rafael Schacter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Banksy is back. Back in the heart of Blighty (deepest Essex to be precise), spraying his musings on our walls. Cue the (now) habitual headlines and opinions. Cue the hysteria. This time, however, things…Rafael Schacter, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/198902013-11-07T19:36:24Z2013-11-07T19:36:24ZBanksy’s New York City – inside ‘a world made of art’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34615/original/c3ckjkwv-1383788139.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">British street artist Banksy stirred up the NYC artworld during his October residency, 'Better Out Than In'.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">carnagenyc</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Street art is the name given to artworks placed in public, usually without permission – and Banksy is probably the most famous street artist in the world. Last week he completed <a href="http://www.banksyny.com/">a residency in New York City</a> that has, characteristically, subverted conventions about how art gets made, funded and interpreted.</p>
<p>The British street artist has a reputation for witty, appealing street artworks – and he is also one of the most significant and collectible contemporary artists, with his works on canvas being sold at auction for <a href="http://arrestedmotion.com/2011/09/banksy-top-25-most-expensive-works-ever/">as much as US$1,870,000</a>. In addition, he has made an Oscar-nominated film, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587707/">Exit Through The Gift Shop</a>, and published a bestselling book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Piece-Banksy/dp/1844137872">Wall and Piece</a>, as well as inspiring countless street artists to imitate his style. </p>
<p>After a long period of apparent inactivity, Banksy spent October undertaking what he called a “residency” in New York, with the moniker “<a href="http://www.banksyny.com/">Better Out Than In</a>”. His month-long stay generated a popular frenzy to spot each work as soon as it was installed, and in some cases, to remove it for profit. </p>
<p>A residency is conventionally assumed to offer an artist studio space and uninterrupted time in which to make art; but Banksy’s New York residency subverted those conventions. </p>
<p>First, no invitation to spend time in New York had been issued; the artist simply went there and installed his work. Some local artists expressed resentment at the media attention Banksy’s presence generated, complaining that street artists were at work in New York every day of the year and Banksy was stealing some thunder that could have been directed towards home-grown talent. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34617/original/k4vtffy2-1383788299.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34617/original/k4vtffy2-1383788299.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34617/original/k4vtffy2-1383788299.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34617/original/k4vtffy2-1383788299.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34617/original/k4vtffy2-1383788299.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34617/original/k4vtffy2-1383788299.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34617/original/k4vtffy2-1383788299.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bystander takes a photograph of Banksy’s Chelsea confessional.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">aur2899</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Secondly, the creative activity behind the works also took place long before his residency began – rather than evolving in response to it. Banksy produced artworks almost every day of the month that he was there, some of which were complex, with multiple components such as audio commentaries posted on his website or available on smart phone to locals (spoofs of the typical audio guide in many museums). </p>
<p>In several pieces, people had been hired to play roles such as “security guard” or “market seller”. The additional personnel and the extent of the artworks’ prior planning were hidden behind a residency’s implication of a singular artist and a limited period of time. </p>
<p>Finally, whereas residencies usually necessitate gratitude towards funding bodies, many of Banksy’s installations invited a critical response to our attitudes towards the support of art. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34618/original/xqtvdqpr-1383788526.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34618/original/xqtvdqpr-1383788526.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34618/original/xqtvdqpr-1383788526.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34618/original/xqtvdqpr-1383788526.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34618/original/xqtvdqpr-1383788526.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34618/original/xqtvdqpr-1383788526.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34618/original/xqtvdqpr-1383788526.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Art fans jostle to photograph Banksy’s works in NYC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charley Lhasa</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this respect, the residency’s most significant works showed awareness of contradictions in how we even define something as “art”. One work, a collaboration with the Brazilian street artists <a href="http://www.osgemeos.com.br/">os gemeos</a>, involved two pieces displayed in a street close to Chelsea’s expensive galleries. </p>
<p>The work was accompanied by a viewing bench, a security guard, and a cooler filled with cheap white wine, an apparent dig at the ways in which galleries require us to view art. </p>
<p>In another work, an elderly man sold signed Banksy canvasses for US$60 from a street stall outside Central Park. </p>
<p>Accustomed to ubiquitous Banksy rip-offs, almost every passer-by ignored the works, oblivious to their actual value (in the thousands of dollars for each canvas). </p>
<p>On a subsequent day, Banksy left a work on canvas in a thrift store. The painting was then sold at auction, raising US$608,000 for a charity working with homeless and HIV-positive individuals. </p>
<p>In these works, it’s clear both the commercial value of his pieces and the audience reactions to the very idea of “Banksy” are becoming part of his art, making Banksy perhaps the most <em>conceptual</em> street artist working today. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34619/original/hvh8dkx5-1383788616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34619/original/hvh8dkx5-1383788616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34619/original/hvh8dkx5-1383788616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34619/original/hvh8dkx5-1383788616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34619/original/hvh8dkx5-1383788616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34619/original/hvh8dkx5-1383788616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34619/original/hvh8dkx5-1383788616.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Banksy robot on Coney Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Scoboco</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But what was it all for? </p>
<p>Banksy’s last NYC work – a <a href="http://www.banksyny.com/2013/10/31/long-island-expressway">giant inflatable tag</a> suspended from a wall – provides a clue. With this work, at the very end of his residency, Banksy finally issued an “artist’s statement”. The commentator in the work’s audio guide informs us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Banksy asserts that outside is where art should live, amongst us. And rather than street art being a fad, maybe it’s the last thousand years of art history that’s a blip, when art came inside in service of the church and institutions. But art’s rightful place is on the cave walls of our communities where it can act as a public service, provoke debate, voice concerns, forge identities. </p>
<p>The world we live in today is run – visually at least – by traffic signs, billboards and planning committees. Is that it? Don’t we want to live in a world made of art, not just decorated by it?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So despite all his commercial success and all the fandom surrounding his work, Banksy still stands by the very idea of street art as art in the street, for the public, installed without permission. Not for nothing was his residency named “Better Out Than In”. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34614/original/hs2f3vfn-1383787793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/34614/original/hs2f3vfn-1383787793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34614/original/hs2f3vfn-1383787793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34614/original/hs2f3vfn-1383787793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34614/original/hs2f3vfn-1383787793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34614/original/hs2f3vfn-1383787793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/34614/original/hs2f3vfn-1383787793.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Banksy’s Sirens of the Lambs, a slaughterhouse delivery truck did the rounds of NYC’s meatpacking district.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">numb - Up All Night to Get Lucky</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>Alison Young is presenting the <a href="http://public-cultures.unimelb.edu.au/event/public-lecture-professor-alison-young-%E2%80%9Cjust-images-troubling-relationship-between-crime">2013 John V. Barry Memorial Lecture</a> in Criminology, entitled “Just Images’?: On the Troubling Relationship between Crime, Culture and Spectatorship” at the University of Melbourne on November 14 at 6.30pm.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/19890/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Young receives funding from the Australian Research Council to investigate cultural, social and legal responses to street art. She works for the University of Melbourne.</span></em></p>Street art is the name given to artworks placed in public, usually without permission – and Banksy is probably the most famous street artist in the world. Last week he completed a residency in New York…Alison Young, Professor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.