IPT Italy

After revolutionizing the world of art, by transforming an act of vandalism − such as murals − in million dollars artworks, Banksy has recently hit the headlines with his latest provocation. In October, during a Sotheby’s auction, right after the awarding of one of his most famous creations entitled ‘Girl with balloon’ for more than £ 1.000.000, the painting literally destroyed itself. Immediately after, the artist declared to have intentionally placed a shredding machine within the frame. As a consequence, a new piece of artwork – ‘Love is in the bin’ – was created by destroying the first.

This episode definitely calls for some legal analysis also under Italian law of what went on in that occasion. “Can a destroyed artwork be considered as an artwork itself under the Italian Copyright Law? And, above all, what about the buyer’s position, who had purchased an expensive piece of artwork and then was left with some framed stripes of shredded paper?”