Tag Archives for banksy

Toilet Henge Again: Oh, Banksy, You Kidder!

banksy henge

photo by MG/BS4, with permission

Admittedly this is a little late, as the article we got it from was posted in June. It got by us at the time but a friend of the blog sent us a link, so here it is, another toilethenge by Banksy, this time part of the exhibit Banksy vs. Bristol Museum.

Not sure why he went for this again. His Glastonbury replica was sufficiently satisfying, and the guerrilla art pinballhenge that may or may not be his struck us as a little fresher. If you know what we mean.

Written on the Welcome to the Museum sign are the words, “Now wash your hands,” which would actually be funnier if they were on a sign on the way out that said “Thank you for visiting the museum.”

Long time readers will remember that this is not our first Bristol henge. Rogue archaeologists at the uni there built a snowhenge during the great snow last winter. We’ll be keeping an eye on that city from now on.

Score: 5½ druids this time. This is smaller and less elaborate than last time, just one trilithon and a fallen upright, and it feels a little tired. You never know with Banksy, of course–that may be what he’s going for. He certainly is not worried about his score on Clonehenge. We confess we’re fans and we look forward to whatever he comes up with next, henge or no henge!

Pinball Henge, North London

Pinball henge

photo by Feòrag NicBhrìde, with permission

Oh, what fun–a bit of guerilla henging with a tantalising hint of a celebrity connection! This is great stuff.

Feòrag, our sender-in, says, “I spotted this interesting construction on the way to the Wenlock Arms the other day. It’s located in a yard at the junction of Wenlock Road and Micawber Street in Hoxton, North London.  Google Maps shows the yard still in use and full of trucks. There are no vehicles in the Street View, but none of the graffiti either, so I think the yard has only fallen out of use recently.” [ Note to U.S. readers: The British use of the word yard has a much more industrial/business-related connotation than it does in the States.]

It is just two trilithons of pinball machines, but its appearance in an abandoned freight yard is intriguing. And our alert hengefinder continues: “Located on the wall is a piece of graffiti featuring a police officer with a ghetto blaster, which looks suspiciously like a Banksy to me – he’s known to be active in the area – though much of the area is tagged ‘RESO’.”

See that bit of wall art at the right of the picture? It does have that Banksy look, doesn’t it? Then cast your mind back to Glastonbury several years ago and Banksy’s masterful Stonehenge replica constructed of of port-a-loos. Could it be that he revisited that concept with this group of  machines? If so, we don’t doubt it has deep inner meaning. Too bad we aren’t deep. We must leave such intellectual discernment to our readers!

As happened with Doorhenge, the guerilla art aspect increases the druid score. We think this is an exciting thing to have pop up among the city streets. May the trend continue. 7 druids, 7½ if it really is Banksy’s! And extra thanks to Feòrag, for taking the time to stop although she was headed for the Wenlock Arms. Now that’s what we call dedication!

Privy henge–Banksy’s take on the subject

banksy

Photo by Puffo, with rights reserved according to Creative Commons.

This is a famous or perhaps infamous take on the henge idea by the street artist Banksy. If you don’t know who Banksy is, read this. He created this art installation for the Glastonbury music festival in 2007 and took his own picture of it, complete with druid. One wonders, did anyone use the portaloos while they were in the henge formation? To be inside a henge stone might in this case have been, well, a head-y experience.

More pictures of it here on Flickr. To his credit, Banksy called the work, “a pile of crap.” We appreciate his whimsy and we give it 7 druids, not counting the one he added himself.