BANKING ON STREET ART
VIFF doc tells tale of stolen work
Who is street art for? That becomes the question at the centre of the documentary The Man Who Stole Banksy, one of the last movies to be screened at this year’s Vancouver International Film Festival.
Italian filmmaker Marco Proserpio takes us first to Bethlehem, where a Palestinian cab driver started in motion the removal of a stunning 2007 Banksy piece that depicted an Israeli soldier looking at the papers of a donkey. The controversial — many Palestinians felt demeaned by the donkey depiction — four-ton section of wall is cut out, crated up and carried out of the country into the western art market.
The film follows the piece on its journey, and is thoughtprovoking in its presentation of modern Palestine.
It is also maddening, as once again we are reminded that we live in a world where everything has a price and everything is for sale.
Postmedia News talked to Proserpio via email and asked him about his film.
Q Is greed going to end street art?
A I don’t think so, though it really depends on what you mean by street art. If what you mean is the boring, bland decorative thing it’s become these days, then yes, it could be so.
But if you are talking about the real thing, the sheer act of writing on the streets to get a message across for everyone to see then no, those rich guys buying public art won’t be able to stop it.
For every rich person buying and removing walls to put them in their living room as a sort of trophy there will always be somebody else jumping on a train to paint it so that they can see their name when that same train rides again the next day.
Q How did you come to this story?
A Everything started the first time I went to Palestine and passed the checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. That’s where I met Walid the Beast, a Palestinian taxi driver who told me he had just removed a big chunk of wall with a Banksy artwork painted on and put it on eBay. It was six years ago, and I didn’t know I was doing a documentary yet.
Q Why did you want to tell this story?
A I was looking for a story that would help me portray Palestinians as human beings, not just victims.
The documentary is based on a very radical action — the removal of a piece of art from the public — that ended up having different meanings and consequences in different context around the world. Never mind in a context like Palestine, where they have other priorities. By the same token, I decided to use Banksy as a tool to get the attention of a young Western generation, so that people who are into street art and pop culture, but maybe not so much into politics, would be confronted with a story that gives them a sense of what’s still happening in our world; what’s still happening in Palestine today.
Q One of the artists in Palestine said in the film that when you live in a conflict zone, everything could be used as a weapon. Does the elimination or removal of street art disarm people?
A It depends. In a way, by being removed, this artwork by Banksy travelling all around the world could still spread the same message. But when it ends up in a big warehouse in a wooden box, and nobody can see it, for sure it does lose its power.
Q How important and satisfying was it to you to expose the art business side for what it is?
A Those pictures were made for everyone to enjoy, so how do we stop people from stealing it and ruining perhaps the art and the buildings? Those thieves say they
are preserving the pieces, but we know it’s BS, right?
It’s not something I like, but I also understand it’s just a reflection of our society where everything has a price. Are they preserving it like someone else was doing with Michelangelo? Bulls--t. Though at the same time, really, there are a million things in the world everyone should be mad about. The fact that people are living every day surrounded by a wall and they can’t go out. That’s one thing they should be mad about.
Q What surprised you most during the making of this film?
A Throughout all this time I ended up filming in many places, including a warehouse full of walls removed from the street, or on the top of Bethlehem rooftops watching ... as some men in masks were cutting a Banksy piece out of the wall with a chainsaw.
Q What do you hope the public takes away from this film?
A I want them to come out of the cinema and think we want a world without checkpoints and f--king walls.
Q Iggy Pop narrates the film. How and why did that come about?
A I was looking for a voice that was punk, just like the documentary is in a way. I talked about Iggy with my producer, he sent him an email and he got back to us a few hours later: “I’m doing it.” Wow.