It is here, in Stuttgart, at Staatsgalerie! Maybe THE most talked about piece of art these days found its way to our beautiful city: Banksy’s Love is in the Bin (formerly known as “Girl with Balloon”). If you want to visit Banksy in Stuttgart and know what the fuss is all about, read on.

It was THE scandal that shook the art world last October. At a regular auction at Sotheby’s something not so regular happened: Right after an artwork created by the anonym street artist Banksy got sold for quite some money, it destroyed itself. Well, nearly destroyed itself I should say: The artist has hidden a shredder in the frame and right after the hammer came down, so did the picture. But only halfway, leaving the top of the painting untouched while the lower half hangs down in pieces under the frame.

What a scandal! And what an installation! The so created new piece of art got a new name right away: Love is in the Bin.

Banksy in Stuttgart – A masterpiece or just a hype?

Banksy has never revealed his true identity. And he is known to be quite skeptical when it comes to the art scene. His newest trick can definitely be seen as a statement against the monetarization of art in general. But it also inspires questions and discussions:

• Why did the picture not get destructed completely? Was it really just a coincidence (a weak battery?) or was the real motive maybe to create a new piece of art in one of the boldest stunts in nowadays art history?
• Is this new artwork a new masterpiece or just an object of a world wide hype?
• Are the eyes of the girl, which are hidden behind the frame, a symbol of the anonym artist?
• Does it need stunts like this to create artworks in our time and to get recognized as an artist?
• When everybody likes to show his or her face on social media today, does it need a counter movement where artists hide their identities like Banksy is doing it?
• …

If you want to see the half-shredded picture by yourself you can do so at Staatsgalerie Stuttgart from now on for at least one year. But you will have to find it first as the museum will change the position of the artwork every eight weeks. The idea behind that: “Love is in the Bin” has to stand up to old masterpieces and the different locations and especially the contrast to the paintings it will hang next to should inspire discussions.

And here comes an insider tip: You can visit Staatsgalerie Stuttgart for free every Wednesday! And kids as well as teens up to 20 years enter the museum for free anyway. Definitely something Banksy would like 🙂

More information

Banksy in Stuttgart at Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Banksy’s post on Instragram about the installation

more about Staatsgalerie Stuttgart

Transparency: Unpaid advertisement as I did not get paid by Staatsgalerie (nor Banksy ;-)) to write this post. As a journalist and blogger I was invited to the press conference on March 7. The opinion shared in this post is my own.