Carol Diehl, "Banksy: Completed" (MIT Press, 2021)

Dec 30, 2021

Artist and critic Carol Diehl explores the mysteries and controversies surrounding the world's most famous living artist, Banksy. From hidden meanings in his artworks to the importance of his anonymity, Diehl analyzes Banksy's impact on the art world and society. She delves into his techniques, anti-war and anti-capitalist themes, and the unique approach he takes to raise awareness of important issues through street art.

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Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Reflections on the Impact of the Global Pandemic on Work and Opportunities

01:41 • 2min

Exploring Banksy's Hidden Meanings

03:15 • 18min

The Importance of Banksy's Anonymity and Protecting it

21:33 • 3min

Banksy's Techniques and Themes in Street Art

24:44 • 3min

Unveiling Banksy's Political Artwork and Unique Approach

27:15 • 19min

Book Discussion and Sponsor Ad

46:18 • 2min

Banksy is the world's most famous living artist, yet no one knows who he is. For more than twenty years, his wryly political and darkly humorous spray paintings have appeared mysteriously on urban walls around the globe, generating headlines and controversy. Art critics disdain him, but the public (and the art market) love him. With Banksy: Completed (MIT Press, 2021), artist and critic Carol Diehl is the first author to probe the depths of the Banksy mystery. Through her exploration of his paintings, installations, writings, and Academy Award-nominated film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Diehl proves unequivocally that there's more to Banksy than the painting on the wall.

Seeing Banksy as the ultimate provocateur, Diehl investigates the dramas that unfold after his works are discovered, with all of their social, economic, and political implications. She reveals how this trickster rattles the system, whether during his month-long 2013 self-styled New York “residency” or his notorious Dismaland of 2015, a full-scale dystopian “family theme park unsuitable for children” dedicated to the failure of capitalism. Banksy's work, Diehl shows, is a synthesis of conceptual art, social commentary, and political protest, played out not in museums but where it can have the most effect—on the street, in the real world. The questions Banksy raises about the uses of public and private property, the role of the global corporatocracy, the never-ending wars, and the gap between artworks as luxury goods and as vehicles of social expression, have never been more relevant.

Galina Limorenko is a doctoral candidate in Neuroscience with a focus on biochemistry and molecular biology of neurodegenerative diseases at EPFL in Switzerland. To discuss and propose the book for an interview you can reach her at galina.limorenko@epfl.ch.

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