Banksy, the subversive, secretive street artist that everyone loves, caused quite a stir recently with perhaps his greatest stunt yet, in which one of his prints shred itself publicly moments after being auctioned for roughly one million dollars. The event made international news in a way unlike any other art activation while simultaneously creating a fascinating mix of uncertain terror and excitement on the faces of the attendees.
Since then, there have been ample discussions about the mechanism that did the shredding, fueled by a handful of snippets that Banksy himself has released. Did the machine malfunction when it stopped halfway through the shredding, or was that the plan? Did the print shred at all, or did it roll itself up as a fake shredded version passed through the bottom of the frame? Was Sotheby’s, the auction house where this was being sold, in on the plan?
One maker has taken it upon himself to create a replica of Banksy’s art-shredding frame, following the roll-up-and-hide-it concept, and has shared his design files for others to build from as well.
Brooklyn-based product designer and mechanical engineer Dave Buchanan writes to Make: “I came up with the idea for my 3d printed version and experimented with the mechanism with things I found around in my apartment. After I was satisfied with the mechanism, I dove into CAD to figure out the specifics. I spent the next two days printing (Prusa I3 MK3), another day modifying parts, and by Saturday I was shooting the video.”
Dave tells us “I’ve been creating art since I could hold a pencil. I love combining art and design, and this seemed like a perfect project for that.” He notes that his concept is based on a classic paper-into-money magic trick.
“I’ve been a big fan of Banksy for a while, and this was an experiment to see how he created his latest performance artwork. I thought this might have been how it was done, but upon completion I think it was actually shredded.”
You can follow Dave on instagram: instagram.com/davebuchanan90
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