Banksy strikes again....

Squeegee Beckenheim said:
Have you considered the possibility that that's because they didn't?
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Well yeah. The first video seems to show useless blades and there are no rollers to be seen, let alone near those blades.

The new "Director's Cut" video seems to show at least 3 different mechanical assemblies. As if he tried different ways and redesigned it multiple times. Here are different versions that I think I can see...

Horizontal X-Acto blades without any rollers.
Double rollers but no X-Acto blades. Seems to use rotary blades.
Triple rollers but no X-Acto blades. Seems to use rotary blades.

This is all shown in the first 20 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28&v=vxkwRNIZgdY
 
William Parcher said:
Well yeah. The first video seems to show useless blades and there are no rollers to be seen, let alone near those blades.

The new "Director's Cut" video seems to show at least 3 different mechanical assemblies. As if he tried different ways and redesigned it multiple times. Here are different versions that I think I can see...

Horizontal X-Acto blades without any rollers.
Double rollers but no X-Acto blades. Seems to use rotary blades.
Triple rollers but no X-Acto blades. Seems to use rotary blades.

This is all shown in the first 20 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28&v=vxkwRNIZgdY
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I was thinking about this (always a bad sign). The X-acto™ knife blades might be there to dissuade owners from opening the mechanism or they are placed in such a way as to scratch the inside facing panel to indicate to Pest Control™(Banksy's mignons*) that a Banksy™ has been tampered with. Although in the video he slams the back panel on without much care.


*yes, I did that on purpose.
 
Myriad said:
The shortening of the height of the girl in the shredded portion could be explained by the shredded portion of the canvas being farther away from the camera.
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I think that the height of the girl is shortened because a roller is about where her neck is when the rolling mechanism stopped.

I don't think it's possible for there to be one canvas.
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I think it could be either, but I'll argue for a single canvas.


Another clue is the permanent (or at least, long-lasting) S-shaped curvature near the bottom edge of the shredded strips. Not consistent with having been flat in a frame for years and then passed once rapidly through a mechanism. (Why would such creasing happen only near the leading edge?) Quite consistent with having been held between rollers for days (or years) waiting for the mechanism to activate.
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I agree with all of that but only if the canvas is of typical dimensions. I predict that Banksy created a canvas with highly unusual dimensions. I created a graphic showing what would be a typical canvas and then one specially created by Banksy for the prank. The prank canvas is much narrower than expected - possibly only just millimeters wider than the aperture. The lower portion of the canvas has an unusual "long tail" which is already threaded through the roller/shredder and the very bottom is in fact pre-shredded and placed into the exit slot.

We see the S-shaped curvature there because the canvas sat curled on the roller for some period of time.
 

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Here is what I imagine to be the approximate location of the roller/shredder. The vertical black lines represent pre-shredded canvas inside the exit slot and ready to be extruded when the activator button is pushed.

When the button is pushed we begin to see a few inches of pre-shredded canvas and the curl. After the curl we begin to see brand new shredding which happens in real time.
 

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Let me put it this way, William, you yourself have described it as "magic". Well, there's a centuries-old magic trick that does exactly this with 2 separate pictures. And one thing we can say for sure about the explanatory videos Banksy has provided - he's lying about at least one thing in each of them.

So why should we believe the claim that he built an actual shredder? Just because he says it?
Doesn't it make more sense that this magic trick was accomplished the same way that magicians have been accomplishing this magic trick for centuries?

Incidentally, I'm not au fait enough with video equipment to really make a statement on this, but I've seen someone else say that the video of him creating and testing the shredder seems to be remarkably good quality for something filmed at home in 2006.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
Let me put it this way, William, you yourself have described it as "magic". Well, there's a centuries-old magic trick that does exactly this with 2 separate pictures. And one thing we can say for sure about the explanatory videos Banksy has provided - he's lying about at least one thing in each of them.

So why should we believe the claim that he built an actual shredder? Just because he says it?
Doesn't it make more sense that this magic trick was accomplished the same way that magicians have been accomplishing this magic trick for centuries?

Incidentally, I'm not au fait enough with video equipment to really make a statement on this, but I've seen someone else say that the video of him creating and testing the shredder seems to be remarkably good quality for something filmed at home in 2006.
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Maybe he made it very recently. I think it discussed above that he had access to the painting shortly before it was auctioned. The video could have been made then. It is highly unlikely the device was fitted in 2006 as the batteries would not last that long.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
...Incidentally, I'm not au fait enough with video equipment to really make a statement on this, but I've seen someone else say that the video of him creating and testing the shredder seems to be remarkably good quality for something filmed at home in 2006.
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What am I? Chopped liver?


Elagabalus said:
OK. I watched the clip. You can see the rotary blades in between the rollers.


OMG!! Banksy and I have the same Oria Precision Screwdriver Set available on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0778K3PH...&pd_rd_r=665ea338-d32c-11e8-acb5-95f73567967b

Cheap bastard.


But no ST-100 soldering iron. Take that, Banksy!!


ETA: Pretty sure the Oria Precision Screwdriver Set was not available anywhere in 2006. Checkmate, Banksy!!
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The Oria Precision Screwdriver Set I purchased earlier this year (with paper trail!)

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=12227158#post12227158

and

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=12244206#post12244206

I bought the Moody Tools JIS set in 2015 around September. IIRC, I did not see the Oria Precision Screwdriver Set listed or I would have probably bought it at that price. So that narrows down the time of the video even further.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
Incidentally, I'm not au fait enough with video equipment to really make a statement on this, but I've seen someone else say that the video of him creating and testing the shredder seems to be remarkably good quality for something filmed at home in 2006.
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Doubtful. Digital consumer camcorders first appeared in the mid-1990s. If anybody should have been able to afford a decent camcorder in 2006, it would have been Robin Gunningham.
 
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Information Analyst said:
Doubtful. Digital consumer camcorders appeared in the mid-1990s. If anybody should have been able to afford a decide camcorder in 2006, it would have been Robin Gunningham.
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***SIGH***

What about The Oria Precision Screwdriver Set? Do you know what else Robin Gunningham could afford? A WIHA Precision Screwdriver Set. Why didn't he buy one whose production run probably didn't change that much instead of buying a cheap set on Amazon that unfortunately shows the video is of a recent vintage?
 
Elagabalus said:
***SIGH***

What about The Oria Precision Screwdriver Set? Do you know what else Robin Gunningham could afford? A WIHA Precision Screwdriver Set. Why didn't he buy one whose production run probably didn't change that much instead of buying a cheap set on Amazon that unfortunately shows the video is of a recent vintage?
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Sigh away. I was addressing the misconception that video shot in 2006 wouldn't be, "remarkably good quality."
 
rjh01 said:
Maybe he made it very recently. I think it discussed above that he had access to the painting shortly before it was auctioned. The video could have been made then. It is highly unlikely the device was fitted in 2006 as the batteries would not last that long.
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He claims that it was built into the frame at the start. So, one more lie.

The question remains - why should we believe that anything about this is as he claims it is, just on his word, given that he has demonstrably told lies about it?
 
3point14 said:
How much did it sell for?

What's the definition of 'sell out'?
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Apparently when someone buys your artwork according to many!

Banksy is a very astute business man (or is she) as well as being an artist.

The "art world" is still incredibly snobby with totally inconsistent views on what having commercial success means.
 
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Darat said:
Apparently when someone buys your artwork according to many!

Banksy is a very astute business man (or is she) as well as being an artist.

The "art world" is still incredibly snobby with totally inconsistent views on what having commercial success means.
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I'm just very confused by the 'he hasn't sold out' comment when he just sold a picture for a million quid.

Sounds like he's sold out to me. "Credibility", it seems, is as subjective as "artistic merit"
 
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