Trailer Transcript - Who Robs a Banksy
Who'd Rob A Banksy? | Trailer transcript
ROBIN BARTON: Listen. I understand that there's a desire to sort of try and get some comment from Banksy, but it's not gonna happen. I mean, Banksy is a notoriously selfish individual.
JAKE WARREN: If you’re wondering how I ended up in this situation, quizzing someone about how I could speak to one of the most famous anonymous people in the world, don’t worry. For you to understand how I got here, I need to tell you a story.
One morning in 2004, in a small square off Shaftesbury Avenue in London, a group of men in white boiler suits and gas masks could be found loading a statue onto a flatbed truck. The statue was nothing that remarkable at first glance - a replica of Rodin’s famous statue The Thinker but with a traffic cone on its head. But if you had looked closer, you’d have found spray painted on the side of its plinth…possibly the most exciting name in all of street art…BANKSY.
You might well have thought these men were from the local council, removing something that had been placed in central London without permission. Or, possibly, they were from Banksy’s crew, moving the statue on to its next location. Well…on both counts, you’d have been wrong.
Because what you actually would have been witnessing was an art heist in broad daylight, in the centre of one of the world’s busiest cities. The statue was being kidnapped, and held to ransom. An act that would lead to an almost 20 year war of bad blood, retaliation and legal battles that are still being waged today.
GILLY: I mean it’s still going on isn't it. It’s like the longest heist in history…
ROSALIA FERRARA: But with the Banksy thing, yeah, it was a whole kettle of new kettle of fish. He decided to take the biggest thing
MATILDA BATTERSBY: I think there was a lot of, a lot of animosity towards Banksy for sort of hogging the limelight.
JAKE WARREN: The fact that someone would kidnap a Banksy statue is pretty absurd already, but the story of why it happened, how the statue vanished again after it was kidnapped, and why it was mysteriously put up for auction over 10 years later is even wilder. Really, you’ll want to sit down for this one. It all comes down to 1 man, and a 2 decade long vendetta.
ANDY LINK: I'm more Banksy’s nemesis than he's mine, I like to think.
JAKE WARREN: The story will take us on a journey through UK’s most subversive sub-cultures: from art heists and art terrorists, to 80s football hooliganism, the 90s illegal rave scene, even fetish parties. It’ll lead me to wade through the realities of the art establishment, who gets to be taken seriously as an artist, and what drives that primal desire within us all, to get our own back on the people who have wronged us. And throughout it all, I’ll be trying to speak to the most elusive and famed anonymous artist in the world.
JAKE WARREN: There are a lot of people who say you’re Banksy…are you?
ANDY LINK: We will strike at the heart of your imperial art establishment at The Banksy Machine. Be warned, and get ready.
JAKE WARREN: From Podimo and Message Heard, this is Who Robs A Banksy? The first two episodes will be available on Friday 28th of April - just search Who Robs A Banksy on your favourite podcast platform, and subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.