Saving Banksy 2017

Banksy is a world-famous anonymous graffiti artist. Even though graffiti are ephemeral by nature, a number of art collectors and auctioneers are interested in preserving Banksy's street art for posterity, and start an entertaining and ironic bidding war over one of Banksy's creations, offering astronomical prices. Art collector Brian Greif hopes to save a pristine Banksy graffiti painted atop a hotel exterior wall. He contacts the hotel’s proprietor about removing a piece of the wall and offers to pay for its restoration so that he could display the graffiti in a museum. However, many museums refuse to collect the piece, insisting that graffiti should not be shown in a museum. Inevitably, the hotel owners jacks up the price for removing the piece, and at the same time, 99% of Banksy's art is illegal vandalism... Banksy himself is a subversive who likes to satirise the establishment, and he is often known for his darkly humorous pranks. As the film progresses, an auctioneer shows the works of Banksy in an art exhibition without anyone's consent and puts it up for auction for a high price, thereby privatising street art. The director of this film interviews many well-qualified graffiti artists, curators and art critics to debate whether the buying and selling of graffiti is acceptable, reasonable and legal.