SAGE Lecture Spark [10/9/18] The Publisher of the Social Sciences

Banksy Shreds Art—Now It May Be Worth More Banksy rigged a shredding device into his 2006 artwork “Girl With Balloon.” With this device, he used a remote control to shred the piece right after it had sold for $1.4 million. Now the piece may be worth more, experts say. “A representative for Banksy, when reached, cited the artist’s quotation of Picasso that ‘the urge to destroy is also a creative urge.’” http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-cm-banksy-shreds-painting-20181006-story.html

Who Was in on Banksy's ’Self-Destruct' Art Stunt? Sotheby’s, where the painting sold, says it wasn’t in on the stunt. Some are skeptical of this. “Is it really credible that Banksy would give the painting away with an embedded, remote-controlled, battery-operated shredder, that would activate 12 years later? At the very least, wouldn't the battery have gone flat?” https://www.cnn.com/style/article/banksy-painting-questions-intl/index.html

Graffiti: Art of the Tag This form of graffiti, of tagging your artist name, is misunderstood. This article gives a brief history. “In an era where street art and graffiti murals have never been more acceptable to society, tagging has a serious image problem: it's associated with gangs, it's considered mindless vandalism and it challenges our ideas of property ownership.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-04/the-art-of-graffiti-tagging/6959396

Graffiti as Mass Comm. Graffiti has often served “as a form of communication, especially for those who otherwise did not hold an equal voice in society.” “Culture Jamming”: “Cultural jammers sabotage large scale advertising in one of two ways- either by renting out billboard space and satirizing large scale corporations, or by writing over existing corporate adverts with graffiti to change the message." https://sampleface.co.uk/graffiti-as-mass-communication/

Key Concepts Art and the Mass Media: Art can serve the purpose of creating or of expression, but as communication it can also serve to reach a large audience with a message. These messages, in the case of graffiti, often go beyond expression and into resistance of advertising and social norms—into making statements. Traditionally graffiti art would only reach a mass audience if the artist’s work received recognition by the fine art world. Now graffiti art can whirl across social media in minutes—a message that reaches millions.

Assessment Writing: In what ways is art also communication? Use graffiti as an example. Debate: Does graffiti art do something “wrong” when it defaces public spaces? Does this detract from its message? Poll: Most of what Banksy does is use stencils to spray paints walls. Are they an artist? Yes or No Short Answer: Did you hear about this Banksy drama before this lesson? If so, where? Current Events Quiz How much was the Banksy piece sold for? Banksy’s representative quoted Picasso, saying: Banksy’s remote control shredder operated after how long? Graffiti tagging is often considered “mindless ___”? Graffiti has often served “as a form of communication, especially for ____? Answers $1.4 million The urge to destroy is also a creative urge. 12 years 4. Vandalism 5. Those who did not hold an equal voice in society

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkC80in5heU Watch the moment the Banksy painting shreds itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GNoUYZhrT0 Spray-painted subway cars, tagged bridges, mural-covered walls – graffiti pops up boldly throughout our cities. It turns out that it’s nothing new. Graffiti has been around for thousands of years and, across that span of time, it has raised the same questions we debate now: Is it art? Is it vandalism? Kelly Wall describes the history of graffiti in this video.