An exhibition of British street artist Banksy’s Love Is In the Bin opens today at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Taipei — the first stop on its international tour.
It is to be displayed in the middle of an individual showroom, giving visitors the opportunity to enjoy the piece from every angle, museum director Loh Li-chen (駱麗真) said yesterday.
Getting Love Is In the Bin to the museum was challenging, because the frame weighs 50kg and the artwork includes pieces of shredded paper, she said.
Photo: CNA
“When opening the box, some colleagues commented that the piece resembled princess Snow White or Sleeping Beauty lying inside a thick, heavy box,” she said, adding that the pieces of paper were wrapped up and placed in another box — and that the total package weighed about 300kg.
“While we were trying to fix the frame or move the artwork, we tried our best not to shake the pieces of paper,” she said, adding that this type of artwork had never been seen before, which made the whole experience extra tricky.
The creation of Love Is In the Bin was in itself an accident. During an auction in 2018, Banksy tried to use an inbuilt self-destruction mechanism to destroy his Girl With Balloon artwork. However, the shredder broke down and only half the painting was shredded — prompting Banksy to rename the work Love Is In the Bin.
The artwork was sold at an auction in 2021 for more than ￡18 million (US$22.8 million), a record for the artist.
“Banksy shredded his work to convey his resistance against capitalism,” Loh said.
Since starting as a street artist, Bansky has used his art to highlight injustice and unrest.
Although his work has appeared on streets, walls and bridges all over the world, few people know his real identity, and plans for the international tour were kept highly confidential before the schedule was announced, Loh said.
As for why MOCA was chosen to be the first location to display the artwork, Loh said the museum has held numerous exhibitions highlighting social issues.
“For example, MOCA was the first official museum to address LGBTQ issues in Asia,” she said.
The exhibition runs until Aug. 13. Admission is free, but visitors must make reservations first.
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