Banksy shredder prank goes wrong at Sotheby’s

Banksy’s recent self-shredding scandal reportedly did not go to plan after only 2/3 of the piece got destroyed last week.

The Bristol born artist uploaded a new video hinting that the whole canvas was supposed to shred, saying, “in rehearsal, it worked every time”.

The famous work ‘girl with balloon’, which has now been renamed ‘love is in the bin’, sold for £860,000 before destroying itself in front of the guests at Sotheby’s auction house. Although, the art has now doubled in value after the stunt.

Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art in Europe, has said that the auction house was not in on the stunt.

Employees at Sotheby’s didn’t detect the shredder because they had been told to keep the frame as part of the artwork.

Branczik told an art newspaper: “Pest Control [Banksy’s authentication board] made it very clear: the frame is integral to the art work.”

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