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An artwork by Banksy shredded itself after selling for $1.3M at Sotheby’s

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Re: An artwork by Banksy shredded itself after selling for $1.3M at Sotheby’s

#221

Post by CPLX »

avoutthere wrote: post #153
spuz wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please tell me which other ingenious and clever marketing stunts Banksy, the anti-capitalist artist who refuses to allow his work or even prints (with rare exceptions) to be sold is known for?

For an "anti-capitalist", he sure has a lot of books for sale on Amazon.

This is my least favorite criticism ever.

“Like, hey man, if you’re complaining that the system is totally unfair and forces most people powerlessly into a narrow set of compromised choices, why are you making one of those choices?”

When I worked with Tom Morello he used to get it all the time too. It’s a bogus argument. There’s no requirement that one leave the system they are in prior to expressing fundamental doubts about that system.

Re: An artwork by Banksy shredded itself after selling for $1.3M at Sotheby’s

#222

Post by ljm »

fpgaminer wrote: post #211
ljm wrote: post #201

Part of me feels like this stunt is clever because the nature of the performance improves the value of the work. So it's self-destructive in the technical sense of the term but it was designed in such a way to essentially transform the piece. While shocking in the moment, as the pictures of the scene show, the work has three separate qualities: the original significance of the piece, the new meaning it attains after…

> And on an extra level, I have started to wonder how such a piece could be represented through programming. The website that rots, pixel by pixel, when it isn't viewed; or the application that subtly corrupts itself over time. I suppose that's also already true today. Unmaintained software rots; the OS moves on and the software no longer runs. DRMed software has its servers shut down. Online games get shut down. Etc…

This is a good point and I notice that we respond to it by building remakes, remasters, and we do keep things running that were never really designed to last so long. I don't think many of us perceive that as decay or rot, or self-destruction, it's just that some of us are so passionate about those games or those works that we put a lot of effort into keeping them alive through emulation or hacking or reverse engineering. It's maintenance work and we'd describe the software as legacy.

It would all be completely lost without those people though, so of course it is the act of digital works decomposing naturally. Those of us who enjoy those efforts probably won't ever perceive it that way: those old games and programs and websites we love are still as alive as ever.

Re: An artwork by Banksy shredded itself after selling for $1.3M at Sotheby’s

#223

Post by clydethefrog »

nevster wrote: post #152
nayuki wrote: post #8

Some photos of the shredded art: https://hyperallergic.com/464419/1-3m-banksy-artwork-self-de... ; https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/sotheby-s-banksy-ed-as-... ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Std3LfVx41c

Has anyone been able to find video of the shredding happen? Finding videos on youtube is such a crapshoot nowadays with people uploading/copying the same videos or some lame commentary over static images.

https://twitter.com/zoelouisesmithx/status/10485771217429831...

It happens at 0:37

Re: An artwork by Banksy shredded itself after selling for $1.3M at Sotheby’s

#224

Post by camillomiller »

ljm wrote: post #201

Part of me feels like this stunt is clever because the nature of the performance improves the value of the work. So it's self-destructive in the technical sense of the term but it was designed in such a way to essentially transform the piece. While shocking in the moment, as the pictures of the scene show, the work has three separate qualities: the original significance of the piece, the new meaning it attains after…

Check out the DisintegrationLoops by William Basinski

Re: An artwork by Banksy shredded itself after selling for $1.3M at Sotheby’s

#225

Post by kasey_junk »

drasticmeasures wrote: post #165
kasey_junk wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a funny comment about this particular piece of art because it is an obvious & unsubtle reading of the theme of this piece (and other Banksy pieces).

What's your reading of it?

I’m not sure honestly. I’ve been thinking about it a lot (which to me means it’s actually good art).

I think the obvious & unsubtle reading above makes a ton of sense. It is a critique of the modern art business for sure.

But also it seems likely that the auction company was in on this so I sort of read it as a statement that you cant separate the business of art from the making of art.

Re: An artwork by Banksy shredded itself after selling for $1.3M at Sotheby’s

#226

Post by raverbashing »

avoutthere wrote: post #153
spuz wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please tell me which other ingenious and clever marketing stunts Banksy, the anti-capitalist artist who refuses to allow his work or even prints (with rare exceptions) to be sold is known for?

For an "anti-capitalist", he sure has a lot of books for sale on Amazon.

"Capitalism is dead" t-shirts are on sale now

Re: An artwork by Banksy shredded itself after selling for $1.3M at Sotheby’s

#227

Post by mempko »

raverbashing wrote: post #226
avoutthere wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For an "anti-capitalist", he sure has a lot of books for sale on Amazon.

"Capitalism is dead" t-shirts are on sale now

Capitalism was never alive. We live in a state capitalist system. A free market capitalism is a fiction, and where it was almost a reality ( Somalia ), it never ended well.

Re: An artwork by Banksy shredded itself after selling for $1.3M at Sotheby’s

#228

Post by Nomentatus »

There probably was no shredding at the auction - there are likely two images in the frame, one pre-shredded to a certain point. Look at the color of the "shredded" print. It's not the same - it's darker, probably didn't age as well 'cause it was cheaper paper. Not to mention that using two images is vastly simpler mechanically and economically than actually shredding it. You just have to roll up half of one image while rolling out half of another (shredded) image. Making a shredding noise is a lot simpler than shredding (and fits in a smaller frame.) There are so many magic tricks that exploit our expectation in just this way (such as sawing a lady in half.)

Of course, it's not in Banksy's interest to reveal the trick immediately. Let the publicity build.

Re: An artwork by Banksy shredded itself after selling for $1.3M at Sotheby’s

#229

Post by archagon »

logicchains wrote: post #203
archagon wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What gives people the right to own “stuff” in the first place? We live in society. If people aren’t happy with the rules, they can go live in a cave and burn their millions for warmth.

>What gives people the right to own “stuff” in the first place? We live in society. If people aren’t happy with the rules, they can go live in a cave and burn their millions for warmth. If you're an American, then the society you live in has a constitution it's agreed to follow that stipulates people have private property, and the state doesn't have the right to arbitrarily seize it. That aside, regardless of what so…

There's a healthy midpoint between sending the rich to gulags and letting people accrue wealth without restriction.
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