Why putting £1m through the shredder is Banksy’s greatest work

Art is being choked to death by money. The only rebellion left is for artists to bite the hands that feed them – as Banksy appears to have done on Friday night

The moment I love most in the video Banksy has released of his latest art stunt is when a bespectacled man with the well-groomed air of an art-world professional puts his hand to his forehead in apparent disbelief at what he is seeing: a million quid being shredded. He looks genuinely frightened that the revolution has reached Mayfair and that activists are about to storm Sotheby’s, where Banksy’s framed picture Girl With Balloon has just mechanically self-destructed – shortly after going under the hammer for a little more than £1m.

If this moment of artistic terrorism last Friday really had been – as at least one member of the audience appeared to think – the sign for all the collectors and dealers assembled at yet another big-selling night in the art industry to be dragged out of the auctioneer’s and shot, there would be VIP blood in the gutters of New Bond Street. For Banksy put his artwork through the shredder at the climax of the busiest week in the London art market, when international collectors fly in for the Frieze art fair and its satellite parties, private views and purchases. “In the spirit of Frieze week, the October contemporary art evening auction is led by a selection of outstanding works,” enthused Sotheby’s about its sale. Apparently, it had no idea that one of these modern treasures was booby-trapped.

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