Love is in
the Bin is a 2018 art intervention by Banksy at Sotheby's London, with an unexpected
self-destruction of his 2006 painting of Girl with Balloon immediately after it
was sold at auction for a record £1,042,000. According to Sotheby's, it is
"the first artwork in history to have been created live during an
auction." The painting is on permanent loan to the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
since March 2019.
The painting
is an adaptation of Banksy's 2002 mural Girl with Balloon, rare as a unique
work rather than a print. It was given by him to a friend shortly after the
"Barely Legal" exhibition in 2006. Banksy has said he prepared the
self-destruct mechanism at this time in case the work was ever put up for
auction.
Sotheby's
London sold the painting at auction on 5 October 2018, at an artist-record
price of £1,042,000 (then equivalent to US$1,366,672 or €1,184,360). Within
seconds of the gavel drop, the canvas began sliding out of the bottom of the
frame and shredding itself to the audible sound of a siren and the surprise
exclamations of attendees. The work was housed in a deep frame and was plugged
in to facilitate built-in electrical lights, which powered the hidden paper
shredder as well. Sotheby's said they had no foreknowledge of the mechanism.
After the
shredding, there was a negotiation with the buyer to confirm the sale, and on
11 October it was agreed that the sale would go through at the original price.
The work was renamed by Banksy's representatives from Girl with Balloon to Love
is in the Bin. Market watchers speculated that the self-destruction would
increase the artwork's value. Sotheby's released a statement that called it
"the first artwork in history to have been created live during an
auction".
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