Unknown street artist
Is that Banksy’s voice? Recording from 2005 in the podcast
View of the BBC building in London: With a podcast, the broadcaster is trying to track down the street artist Banksy. photo
© James Manning/PA Wire/dpa
In a podcast, the BBC has published a telephone interview that the British artist, who is keeping his identity secret, is said to have given years ago in the USA. Was it really him?
“We assume you are who you say you are, but how can we be sure?” asks the presenter. To which the person claiming to be Banksy replies, “Oh, you have no guarantee of that at all.” The conversation with the man, who describes himself as a “painter and decorator” and gave the motivation for his guerrilla art, lasts about three minutes: “You don’t want to be stuck in the same industry your whole life, do you?”
The NPR talk aired on March 24, 2005, days after Banksy undetected exhibited several works at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum. He disguised himself as a “British pensioner” and saw a man with a beard and a rain jacket. “I thought some of them were really good, so I thought: exhibit them in a gallery,” the alleged Banksy said in a radio interview. “Otherwise they would just stay at home and no one would see them. If you’re waiting for other people to follow along with what you’re doing, you’re waiting forever. So you can safely cut out the middle man and just do it yourself take.”
While collectors have long been paying millions for works by Banksy, the question of the legality of his actions was still in the foreground at the time. “But what you’re doing is illegal,” the NPR host said. Answer: “That’s what makes it fun.” However, he does not intend to be arrested often. Banksy succeeded: To date, there is no report that he was caught.
In the podcast, among other things, employees of the artist express themselves. However, they do not reveal any details about their identity. “What’s his name?” the moderator asks a woman. “Banksy,” she replies.