Banksy crashes Venice Biennale with an installation that criticizes the city’s cruise ship problem
Famously anonymous British artist Banksy may have set up shop unannounced at the Venice Biennale arts exhibition — and was booted from the piazza because he didn’t have a permit.
Video was posted Wednesday to Banksy’s verified Instagram account of a man — likely the guerrilla artist himself, although his face is obscured — displaying a series of paintings of a large cruise ship in the famed canal entitled, “Venice in oil.”
Then, local police show up and appear to tell him he can’t stay there because he didn’t have a permit to operate a stall, prompting him to pack up and leave, CNN reported.
As he wheels away his artwork, a cruise ship is shown in the background, towering over a row of gondolas.
“Setting out my stall at the Venice Biennale,” the artist captioned the Instagram video. “Despite being the largest and most prestigious art event in the world, for some reason I’ve never been invited.”
The paintings appear to highlight the over-tourism controversy in the Italian city — where cruise ships play a role in the problem, CNN reported.
A new video appeared on Banksy’s Instagram account showing the famous street artist (or perhaps someone from his team) setting up an unlicensed stall in Venice. The installation is interpreted as a critique of the giant cruise ships that are allowed to sail the Venetian lagoon and it seems to have resonated with locals.
