Festival, 2006
MISSING ORIGINAL
Medium: Unknown
Dimensions: Unknown
Festival, also known as Destroy Capitalism, depicts a group of people at a music festival queuing up to buy t-shirts. They are clearly portrayed as punks, goths and hippies attending some sort of music festival with clothes, haircuts and attitudes representative of those subcultures. They represent what society might consider as anti-capitalists or “outsiders.” However, they queue up to buy a $30 t-shirt, just like the rest of society – illustrating the power that capitalism holds even for its most fervent opponents.
Festival can also be read as an ironic comment on how independent and anti-globalization events, like alternative music festivals, for example, have now become hypocritical versions of themselves – contradicting the very thing their attendees cry out against. The irony of the work unintentionally reached its climax in 2013, however, when Walmart – the American multinational retail corporation which is the very embodiment of capitalism – sold a series of Festival at a markup through their online marketplace (without asking Banksy for permission to use the imagery, to boot).
Festival is also one of six prints belonging to the Barely Legal Print Set, which also includes Grannies, Trolleys, Morons, Applause, and Sale Ends. It was originally released at Barely Legal as an edition of 100 unsigned prints, printed by Modern Multiples, that sold for USD 500 a piece.
Festival, 2006
Screen-print in colors on Arches 88 wove paper
56×76 cm (22×30 inches)
Editions: 150 signed, 500 unsigned
