The new Banksy show in Manchester is ‘a controversial exhibition about a controversial artist’
Europe’s most popular Banksy exhibition has landed in Manchester (Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
Before visitors even step foot into Depot Mayfield, the curators behind the new The Mystery of Banksy: A Genius Mind exhibition wants everybody to know that there are no original Banksy works within the attraction space. None whatsoever. And, well, it’s a fair point to make.
Instead, this unauthorised exhibition features over 200 carefully recreated works and replicas as it details the elusive artist’s story. Created by COFO Exhibitions, as well as local partner Cartel Event, it aims to keep in line with Banksy’s messaging that ‘copyright is for losers’ and is therefore billed a lovingly independent tribute. Exhibitions like this have divided opinion in the past for possibly blurring the line between whether it’s fan admiration or copy cat commercialism – and the team, to be fair, are aware it’s something they are going to be challenged on.
“This is a controversial exhibition about a controversial artist,” curator Virginia Jean tells the M.E.N. whilst invited along for a private tour of the space before it opens to the public on Friday (March 13). In a justification of the decision to get a team of artists to recreate spray painted walls, murals, statues and other artworks by the elusive artist, she says it’s their ‘dream is to give back the stolen pieces to the public’.
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By this, she is referring to the many artworks and creations installed over this years which has since been damaged, repainted over or removed. Some have been lost altogether, others sold on to the highest bidder for profit to be kept within fancy mansions. We’re talking numerous rat murals, the ‘Draw the Raised Bridge’ piece in Hull, the Mickey Mouse-inspired Livin’ the Dream in LA, and the Slave Labour piece which ‘mysteriously’ disappeared off the walls of a North London Poundland to then be put up for auction mere days later.
It’s the first time the exhibition of recreated works has made it to the UK(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
It’s clear Virginia and her team of around 30 people are big fans of the artist. A number of proceeds from it all will go to his foundation, and they’re also in regular dialogue with his team about what they can do better or how they can approach certain things. Whilst never given a clear indication of whether the artist and his team officially approve of this “unauthorised” exhibit, it feels like they’re pretty close to something like it. And if not, it’s been going around long enough for the artist and his team to have spoken up against it by now.
This is the first time this exhibition has arrived in the UK. It’s been going for five years, and toured some 12 countries and 36 cities. For this Manchester conception, hailed the “biggest ever so far”, the attraction has all been put pieced together by a team of 30 during a frantic 12 days. There’s a miniature recreation of the artworks forming the Segregation Wall, which appeared in the West Bank of Palestine in 2005, as well as a replica of inside the artist’s The Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, which is said to have the ‘worst view in the world’ as it overlooks the concrete barrier which separates Israel from the Palestinian territories.
Love Is In The Bin, the aftermath of Girl with Balloon, has also been recreated(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
There’s also remakes of the likes of Apollo, Flower Thrower and Girl with Balloon then Love Is In The Bin – which is sandwiched between a video replaying that infamous Sotheby’s auction in 2018 where the artwork self-destructed in front of some of the most elite, their shocked reactions still amusing today on each rewatch.
Each piece in the exhibit has been verified and confirmed to be based on authentic pieces as per Banksy’s team, and there are also QR codes for people to scan to learn more about each of the works and see photos of them when they originally existed. There’s also a section dedicated to the Dismaland theme park, which was installed within a disused water park in Weston-Super-Mare for five weeks back in 2015. There’s also an interactive London Underground tram you can hop on board to see a recreation of Banksy’s I Get Locked Down spray job from 2020.
A fibreglass recreation of the red and gold elephant that was involved in a LA show back in 2006(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
Virginia says it would have been easy to just hang up the artwork on a wall and call it a day, but they’ve not done that. “We’re not a museum,” she insists. “We want people to feel like they can stand in front of these creations and feel immersed in this Banksy world. There’s no way of ever seeing some of the original pieces in real life again because they have been destroyed. We want to give back these pieces to the public.”
The Manchester exhibition also features a fibreglass recreation of the elephant which was actually painted red and gold and let waltz through an industrial warehouse in LA back in 2006. Along the way there’s also video installations and short movies to watch, which tell visitors about important chapters in the artist’s career. There’s also a battered 25-year-old Nissan Micra, donated by 17-year-old fan Matilda River Walden, as part of a rhino artwork, which originally appeared on a London street as part of a series of animal-themed murals last summer.
The works have been lovingly recreated based on original Banksy creations(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
Of course, the exhibition isn’t free to visit. Timeslot tickets cost £18 for children, teenagers, students and seniors, and £22 for adults. And, yes, it all exits out to a gift shop where there’s hats, posters, mugs, badges and even jigsaws adorning mass produced recreations. It’s a little on the nose at times – especially with many of his creations tackling corporate greed, poverty, inequality and access to the arts – but they’re aware of it and at least they are prepared to tackle it head on.
“I promise you we are not getting rich from this,” Virginia says. “We are doing this because we love it. Sadly, money always has to be involved – we have to pay our artists, we have to be able to take it on tour. But if I were to wish for anyone to make money, It’d be Banksy.”
The Mystery of Banksy – A Genius Mind is on at Depot Mayfield until June 28(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
One aspect is that a number of profits from that aforementioned gift shop go back to Banksy’s M.V. Louise Michel fund, which was set up in 2020 after the artist bought and then spray-painted pink a lifeboat, which is now used to perform search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean as refugee attempt to reach Europe. The curators of this exhibition are now considered to be one of the biggest donors to the fundraiser now.
And, to be fair to those behind the exhibition, it is very true that this is now the only way these works can now been seen together – albeit in unauthorised, recreated form. It’s a good way of being able to look at inspired versions of his work and learn more about the very important and varied stories behind each of them. Of course, there is still a bit of grey area as to whether Banksy would actually want this to exist in the first place, but at least it’s been done lovingly by fans who have what feels like good intentions here. Just don’t go in expecting to see any originals.
The exhibition will be at Depot Mayfield, which is just a short walk from Piccadilly Station, until June 28. Tickets here.