It means Banksy, who has remained anonymous for more than 25 years, could finally be unmasked as he would be required to publicly disclose his name if brought to court.
Gonna be hard to bring them to court if you don’t even know their name, isn’t it?
With the London surveillance apparatus, I bet they could figure out who Banksy is. It’d be an insane waste of time and resources, but I bet they could.
The fact that they’re going to all this trouble over this image proves the point the image was making better than anything else possibly could have.
Streisand Effect to the max.
Exactly and the image is already out on the internet now.
Link?
Before and after they tried to remove it only to further bolster the message
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That is amazing. I love it when cesorship fucks its own ass lol.
Do you think it was intentional with the choice of paint, or did the person removing it intentionally scrub just the silhouette?
Looks like possible malicious compliance by the cleaning crew.
I know it’s what I’d do at least.
This was the best I could find without people in it when it first went up:
If artwork is a threat to your system…
but, BUT, MUH LAW AND ORDER
Could always make them waste even more resources by adding noise to what little data they might have.
I’mSpartacusBanksy!Does he still install them himself? Isn’t it likely he sent someone to do it for him?
Couldn’t tell ya, but that’s certainly plausible.
They have done both.
Finally all that money they’re giving to antichrist speaker Peter Thiel going to good use
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Seems like an opportunity for a bunch of street artists to show up at court and pull an “I’m Spartacus”.
I’m pretty sure there’s plenty of people out there who know exactly who Banksy is. It’ll be like with The Stig, all the journalists knew who he was but the mystery was more interesting and sold more papers.
I’ve long heard that his identity is an open secret and a lot of people know his actual identity. Solid chance the UK government already knows who he is.
Them silently knowing his identity is not the same as them proving his identity in court though.
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He has sold some of his work at auction, I’m guessing they didn’t write a check to “Banksy”.
probably wrote the cheque to a shell company
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Banksy has also been to court before, fully represented by his lawyer. The odds of them not knowing precisely who he is are fairly low, I believe.
Ah yes, going after world renowned artist for graffiti because he made them feel bad. Truth speaking to power will always be unpopular with those in power.
So they destroyed a priceless artwork, and are essentially planning to kill graffiti Santa next.
I wonder who’s ordering this, and if they’re aware it will not help the public opinion problem they’re having.
Well Labour is just a different flavour of the Conservative Party. So it does track.
Ah, it’s like that over there, too. Welcome to the party.
I’m pretty sure they no longer care about public opinion, they’re confident there’s nothing we can (or will) do.
That is the vibe the UK government gives in particular sometimes. There’s been a few issues over the past decade and a bit where they just haven’t given a fuck about privacy, free speech or recourse against the authorities.
It’s mistake to think that way, though, because the nation actually is a democracy now.
Banksy is as much a person as Nicolas Bourbaki was. Although unlike Bourbaki, there is allegedly one guy who is kind of the main guy, but if that one guy goes to prison, I’m fairly certain Bansky artworks will continue to appear.
In fact I’d put money on the fact that one would appear in a prominent place soon after.
And if the establishment somehow manage to round up every single person associated with Banksy and manage to get something to stick to every single one of them, which I strongly doubt is possible, the rise in wannabe Banksy groups doing the same thing won’t be far off.
The artwork is almost always made with stencils and spray paints. Stencils can be prepared well in advance. A trained group could have one of these up in under a couple of minutes.
If I was Banksy - or one of them - I would almost certainly have distributed my art to trusted individuals for the event of my incarceration and beyond.
In fact I’d put money on the fact that one would appear in a prominent place soon after.
I mean, if it’s multiple people and the ones not incarcerated don’t immediately drop more art, I’d be disappointed.
I wonder how close they could get to putting one on the jail.
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So the state will assume he’s in support and jail him on assumptions? For a painting?
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So telling that they tolerated his “criminal damage” for literally decades, until it made them actually look bad.
No… they just have become more repressive and no longer tolerate being called out. This is a scary reaction for democracy for just a painting on a wall.
All the other Banksy’s I can think of are just vaguely subversive about the system in general. CCTVs, Policemen kissing, hoodie wearer throwing flowers, assorted things about urban decay, that sort of thing. This is the first one I can think of that calls out a specific current event that you can attach names to.
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The article says it could result in a fine that’s based on the value of the damage. You’d think having a famous artist’s work would increase the value of the building.
would be funny if courts did agree it was net increase to value if they didnt destroy it
So really they devalued public property by destroying his artwork. I say bring the State up on charges.
Even funnier would be if they then put the cleaners in jail instead.
Interesting. “The value of the damage.” I’d say it’s pretty likely the Banksy worked increased the value of the wall, if not the whole property. So is that negative damage? The people who decreased the value where those who tried to clean off the artwork.
The building is already a Grade I listed building.
So, if the damage increased the value of the building, it would necessitate the courts paying? Sounds reasonable.
UK, what the bloody hell is wrong with you.
Our current government is the labour party, the one of the big two that is supposed to be more left leaning. They haven’t been left leaning in twenty years, they crept to centrist and now the creep to the right continues. They’re not dissimilar from the democrats in America. Internationally, there seems to be a general move towards the right and we are certainly following it. Demonstrations and activism don’t seem to help. Shit is fucked, basically.
The UK government as effectively ignored all protests since the poll tax riots. The choice seems either start acting like the French or just sit down and shut up.
Yeah, and I’ve been on some actions that have kicked off, back in the day, fighting the lines of riot police. It was fun but achieved fuck all. Yeah we need many more people involved in aggressive protests. I don’t know if that will help either, but at least we need to mobilise a broader section of the population.
They’re determined to Streisand Effect this into the history books, huh?
Could everyone in London just suddenly adopt a fashion trend of wearing V for Vendetta masks?
… Or is that already illegal?
I am banksy.
spits out chewing tobacco
leans forward in chair, causing spurs to ring
adjusts cattleman hat
squints
Well.
Ain’t that just the darndest coincidence.
Me too.
Spikes my Mohawk with egg white
causing an uncomfortable squishing sound
folds the collar down of my spiked leather jacket
spits the taste of last night’s beer out my mouth
looks up and around confused
Why do I suddenly feel like a forty year old recluse?
Not sure pard’ner, but I got this here onion in my cross holster, if ya’ need it.
Same tho
The UK, in collaboration with the US, has been a surveillance state for over 15 years. Now is becoming an authoritarian one too.
“We must catch this villain who is making public edifices worth millions to our oligarchs!!”
Could have avoided the higher criminal charges by painting a building across the street, but this does demonstrate the insecurity of authority.
Oh no! That is so scary. I hope that whoever it is doesn’t have decades of experience in working and traveling anonymously around the world while performing illegal acts of guerilla artwork while evading both the legal authorities and an adoring public fanbase!
Fuck are you kidding me?
The plebs are getting rowdy. Surely this will send the message we’re hoping for and they’ll settle down.
