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Geographical Profiling Points to Artist Banksy’s Secret Identity

14 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

banksy identity real life

A set of mathematical processes developed for use in crime-fighting and disease-tracking indicates that one already-suspected individual may indeed be the infamous graffiti and installation artist known as Banksy.

banksy revealed former hoax

The approach of “geographical profiling” is often used to track down repeat offenders, serial criminals whose strikes began to form patterns that can be productively analyzed by experts and run through models by mathematicians.

The findings help paint a picture of probable places of residence and areas of everyday operation, criminal or otherwise, sometimes narrowing the search to an area as small as a few hundred square feet.

banksy street art

Steven Le Comber, a biologist at the the University of London, learned of geographic profiling from Kim Rossmo, a criminologist at Texas State University, growing interested because of potential applications for disease vector studies. The two then began teaming up to find both pathogens and people.

In this case, their modeling shows clusters of activity in London and Bristol based around 140 data points, specifically: sites of known or alleged works by Banksy. Their findings, reported in the Journal of Spatial Science, suggest a handful of addresses in London (a pub, park and residence) all associated with one Robin Gunningham.

Already suspected of being Banksy, Gunningham may yet be a ruse or a plant, but science suggests the individual is very likely connected with the artist, one way or another. As to the question: who is Banksy? We may never really know for sure.

From the abstract: “The pseudonymous artist Banksy is one of the UK’s most successful contemporary artists, but his identity remains a mystery. Here, we use a Dirichlet process mixture (DPM) model of geographic profiling, a mathematical technique developed in criminology and finding increasing application within ecology and epidemiology, to analyse the spatial patterns of Banksy artworks in Bristol and London. The model takes as input the locations of these artworks, and calculates the probability of ‘offender’ residence across the study area. Our analysis highlights areas associated with one prominent candidate (e.g., his home), supporting his identification as Banksy.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

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Banksy’s Dismaland to be Reused as Refugee Housing in France

08 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

dismaland panoramic

The dystopian bemusement pop-up theme park known Dismaland, a project of UK artist Banksy, is now closed but its dismantled pieces and parts will find second lives as architecture and infrastructure for refugees across the English Channel in the French port city of Calais.

dismaland night shot

dismaland montage

Known collectively as “The Jungle,” a series of mostly-informal refugee camps around the Port of Calais temporarily house asylum seekers from troubled countries including Darfur, Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Most of The Jungle’s occupants are looking for ways into the United Kingdom, legally or otherwise.

dismaland park bench

dismaland deconstructed

Working fixtures, furniture and furnishings will be appropriated more directly, while more complex structures are being disassembled to be reused as raw materials for shelters and services. While camps have existed in the area for years, they are in constant conflict with authorities and generally lack even basic day-to-day amenities.

dismaland in action

dismaland sunset

Lasting just over a month, Dismaland attracted over 150,000 visitors, featuring works by Banksy and 58 other artists. Dismaland was a surprise installation to the residents of seaside Somerset, England, who were told the construction efforts were building toward a film set for an upcoming movie (images via Wikipedia and Colossal).

[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Dismaland: Banksy’s Disappointing Dystopian Bemusement Park

22 Aug

[ By Steph in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

dismaland 1

Excited ticket holders rush past sullen-faced guards in mouse ears to gain access to Banksy’s Dismaland, a dilapidated, depressing ‘bemusement park’ that’s far from the happiest place on earth. Contained within a derelict seaside swimming complex, the attraction takes everything you love about Disneyland and subverts it into a dystopian vision where nothing works quite like it should, and whatever can go wrong probably will.

dismaland 3

dismaland 2

Visitors pass through a faux security screening complete with cardboard x-ray machines before submitting to a real search, with guards ironically checking for spray paint to make sure no vandals compromise the strange scene Banksy has curated. Inside, they’re greeted by a structure resembling a post-apocalyptic Cinderella’s castle, a giant pinwheel tangled with plastic and the grim reaper as the sole rider at a bumper car attraction.

dismaland 6

dismaland 9

dismaland 10

A photo backdrop labeled ‘selfie hole’ tells you what it’s for and makes a statement on the person using it at the same time. Step past the ‘No Entry’ gate in the fairytale castle and you’ll be treated to CCTV-like footage of Cinderella and her prince on screens before coming upon the wreckage of her overturned carriage, paparazzi flashbulbs going off in a frenzy deliberately echoing the death of Princess Diana. Everything is designed to be a colossal let-down.

dismaland 5

dismaland 4

dismaland 8

Abandoned for nearly a century, the 2.5-acre site has just the right grimy atmosphere for Banksy’s display, which includes almost none of his own work. The artists who collaborated on the project and have works featured inside include Jenny Holzer, Damien Hirst and Jimmy Cauty. The park will be open every day through September 27th, with performances by Run the Jewels, Pussy Riot, Massive Attack and others scheduled each Friday. Tickets are £3 on the Dismaland website.

Photos by Christopher Jobson at This is Colossal

[ By Steph in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

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Free T-Shirt & Final Tag: Banksy’s Goodbye to New York City

04 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

banksy nyc goodbye art

After an intensive month-long residency in America’s biggest city with daily updates, street artist Banksy is leaving behind a strangely mixed legacy of his trip. Here are some of his last works from the stay, from a thrift store painting hacked and re-donated and an unpublished op-ed piece to a free t-shirt to anyone who wishes to download and print it.

banksy thrift store nazi

banksy banality of evil

‘The banality of the banality of evil’ is a second-hand shop art conversion purchased, adapted and given back to a local store on 23rd street. It features a World War II Nazi officer added to the otherwise bland landscape, easy to overlook in the serene scenery.

banksy internet tag humor

banksy blocked messages wall

Meanwhile, in Greenpoint, a kind of meta-tag (not in the internet sense, though certainly a reference to webpages) speaks to already-covered graffiti painted over below it.

banksy op ed wtc

His controversial message aimed to be published in the local press (submitted to the New York Times but rejected) gives his stance on One World Trade Center, which he sees as an insufficiently bold tribute to the falls towers of the city.

banksy perched cat stadium

banksy robot bar code

banksy grim reaper bumper car

Other odds and ends from his final days in town include: a cheetah lounging on the side of Yankee Stadium, a robot spray-painting a bar code on a brick wall in Coney Island, a gentleman waiting for a date outside the Hustler Club and the Grim Reaper riding a bumper car in Bowery.

banksy goodbye nyc tag

banksy free t-shirt image

Before spray-painting his name in simple bubble letters on a wall in Queens to end his October run, Banksy reminded New Yorkers to ‘save Five Points’ and added his iconic bandaged heart to the iconic white I Heart NYC t-shirt. The latter he offers for ‘free’ as a download, complete with an ironic registered trademark symbol and graffiti-style lettering. Given the controversy caused by some of his projects and their aftermath, some will no doubt be sad and others glad to see him go from the Five Boroughs.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

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