Banking on Banksy
The Banksy show at The M, “Banksy Universe: Manila 2024,” opens May 14 but today it’s still a work in progress, which of course is a way of looking at the artist himself.
Some pieces are still being installed, and orange traffic cones are spread around to suggest the idea of trespassing. One area looks like it will be a haven for DJs and musical events at one point, with Banksy’s album covers for friends like Blur and Massive Attack decorating the walls. Another wall is a “designated graffiti zone” for visitors to contribute their own ideas—probably not with spray cans, but supplied magic markers.
As Metropolitan Museum of Manila special exhibitions and projects consultant Bambina Olivares walks me through the 600-meter space on the second level, she addresses whatever controversy attends such an opening head-on. The M has issued this statement: “While ‘Banksy Universe,’ like many such exhibitions around the world, is not authorized or endorsed by Banksy, it will feature over a hundred works that trace the trajectory of Banksy’s career, affording visitors a closer look into the themes that preoccupy him, as well as the transformative power of art.”
Bambina points out that Banksy hasn’t “authorized” or endorsed any exhibit staged in his name around the world—and there have been possibly hundreds. Copyright and trademark laws have been difficult for the artist to enforce in a UK courtroom, being that he is anonymous, so he seems to regard these shows with a shrug.
Working with a group of collectors called Banksy Universe, the Metropolitan Museum has gathered over 100 pieces, including legit prints, actual vinyl album covers, plus marginalia like souvenirs from the “Walled-Off Hotel,” his 2017 Bethlehem installation of seedy luxury surrounded by rubble.
“It’s a good way of discovering his work,” offers Bambina. “A lot of his pieces, it’s impossible to see without traveling.” And it’s nearly impossible to ship actual stenciled walls around the world.
Why now? Why Manila? “We think Banksy’s very relevant,” she adds. “He walks the talk. He’s someone speaking for the disenfranchised. I think artists like Banksy remind us that there’s still a lot of economic inequality in the world, and that people are struggling.” She acknowledges the irony of holding such a show in a museum, particularly in “a sleek, shiny, new city” that attracts an affluent crowd such as BGC. We talk about Singapore’s “sanctioned” street art, and New York’s long-ago seediness spawning the likes of Haring, Basquiat, now replaced by Disney and M&M shrines. “You ask those questions: do you lose your soul when you have a bright, shiny, beautiful city?” At the same time, the show is likely to draw younger art patrons—always welcome—and expand Banksy’s audience.
Another online controversy brewed over the show’s seeming exclusion of local street artists. But Bambina promises there will be plenty of inclusive events during the show’s six-month run. “We hope to get conversations going, a dialogue on art. The talks will also be a way of bringing in local street artists, to give them a voice as well. Then we will have activities for schoolchildren like stencil workshops and talks about public art, private property and activism.”
One display as you enter features a recreation of Banksy’s stenciling studio. Later, synchronized lighting and sound effects—including the sound of a rattling spray-paint can—will be added to the show.
We walk through reproductions of stencils from London, Palestine, other places. What’s missing in these reproductions splashed on bare white museum walls is a sense of place: you don’t get the grit of a Banksy stenciled on the fly in a real urban environment. (Though one shows a London cop seemingly urinating against a brick wall.)
There’s a nod to “Dismaland,” Banksy’s piss-take on theme parks, with a looped video, as well as a room devoted to the “Walled-Off Hotel” with a section set up like a suite, with surveillance cameras mounted above (one tracking people as they pass by) and bits of marginalia from that exhibit, including specially made Walled-Off Hotel soaps, matches and amenities.
Classic iconic pieces are sprinkled throughout, like the girl releasing a heart balloon, the Palestine protester throwing a bouquet of flowers — but as of now, there’s little connecting thread of context, besides short descriptions of each piece. One wall features Warholian portraits of Kate Moss, whom Banksy seems to regard as a rebel spirit. There’s a London phone booth, but lacking the cops inside, or the axe embedded in it. On an opposite wall is a reproduction of the 2010 “shredded” Banksy, which sold at auction at Sotheby’s and was then sent through a shredder onsite to add to the artistic statement.
One display takes us to Central Park, NYC, where Banksy supplied a local street vendor with original stencils, and had him hawk the small canvases for whatever people were willing to pay. A classic Banksy prank: imagine picking up an original by the artist for, say, $10, and never knowing it’s real.
We exit, fittingly, through a small gift shop, where the Banksy Universe will supply—instead of typical coffee mugs, key chains and T-shirts—a canvas bag, a catalogue, some collectible vinyl singles, some nice Banksy pins. You have to wonder: is all this feverish copying and reproducing of Banksy what he has in mind by “disseminating” his work?
As we exit, Bambina supplies a direct Banksy quote from her phone: “I still encourage anyone to copy, borrow, steal and amend my art for amusement, academic research or activism.” A museum show can fulfill some of those functions, and we hope “Banksy Universe” will expand the conversation on what is public art, and how can it involve local artists, even in a shiny, sleek urban city such as BGC.
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“Banksy Universe: Manila 2024” opens May 14 at Metropolitan Museum of Manila, MK Tan Centre, 30th Street, BGC. Proceeds from gift shop sales will benefit Childhope Philippines, an NGO that protects and educates children in street situations.