It  Doesn't matter

Get it booked Roy!!!!!

don't waste any time, book it now!!!!

Now Roy!

Don't think about it, Book it!!!!!!!!


Stop it, no more thinking, Book it!!!!!!

Hi Bren, I can't book, how will I pay the plane and the 10000 dolkars caution ?
An estimation, sorry it French, is an estimate ( what was the question , can't remember )
Anyway I have an important question : do you think the Walledoff shop will be to pay with cards or with Paypal ? And at what time ?
@bren , is it you on IG who asked me as mate ? I asked you a question and you did not answered ... I don't know if it's you or not ...🙄
And on my other account, I can't see anymore your asking ...
anyway if i go to Palestine I will paint all the wall as cans are free !

I have a bunk room bed booked for Friday and Saturday 24/25th March (book launch day) - it looks like i can't go, anyone want the bed? I will try get the names changed over? I booked transfer and tour also - pm me if interested

No idea about the shop. May well have been me on IG, i am new to it, and don't really know what i am doing, 'll have a look and see if i can find your question.

its good to paint :-)

I don't see how it would make sense to close it really.

The amount of time and money that went into this. Surely the operational costs can't be that demanding...

Would be a shame if it's just a pop up shop and then disappears. Kind of losing the whole purpose and power.

Jesus! Maybe look at a glass half full for a change?!

I've never seen such an axe to grind towards Banksy. I'm thinking B definitely ran through Bella one drunken evening a while back and never called. 


Bella Gladman

"latest evolution in a career of unsophisticated protest art, the tipping point where he jumped the shark from aggressive mediocrity to ludicrous pompousness."

"Banksy's GCSE-level protest art was banal but tolerable"

"If he is trying to bring awareness to the conflict through this art, he has failed spectacularly"

"At worst it's an arrogant Brit drunk on the heady potion of faux-cool, thinking his hot takes on politics eg. "war bad, peace good" might alleviate the world's most intractable conflict."

"His entire career has been made on his hack tactic of mashing together, the images he produces ultimately meaningless through the lack of ideological weight"

I'm probably going against the grain here but I think she actually makes some fairly valid points, which probably sounds sacrilegious being that this is the Banksy Forum. However, I empathize with the people of that region whose daily life is constantly affected by the violence and history of violence in that region and to have an outsider come in and trivialize the pain and suffering of the people or even just put it on display and exploit it does seem in poor taste IMHO. 

It's not a bad article and there's nothing wrong with critiquing Banksy on here. I actually also agree with much of what she writes. But I'll reserve judgement until I (hopefully) get to see it firsthand.

Well it would help if we knew details of profit, expenses, time, etc.

If it closes in a month what does that say? Lots of unknowns.

 I think she's a fashion writer. thequietus.com/articles/21993-banksy-walled-off-hotel-israel-palestine

Never the less it's a good article. She makes some fair point and my view is that she misses a fair few points too. There is a shortage of art critics and the best ones are the ones who make us challenge them and re look at art ourselves.

   Banksy makes eye candy protest art. It appeals to many people because it's simple, easy on the eye. It works very well in getting a visual message across. He could have kitted the hotel out with Bryan Haw style protest banners etc but that would have put off too many of the type of tourists that would pay to visit Bethlehem whose money would go to the local people.

  Regardless of her views etc. Banksy did the right thing and whilst local hotels have been ignored by the media the Walled Off Hotel got the media spotlight back onto the Israeli wall cutting off the Palestinians from the rest of the world. Plus Bethlehem having many Christians living there. What right do Israeli Jews have to treat Christians in this way? Should be the question that all these zionist supporters in USA etc who consider themselves good old Americian Christians be demanding of their senators.

 Israeli Jews is a bit of a generalisation as it is not the Jews in Israel who are opressing Palestinians but the Jewish state which Israel calls itself.

   The best point made in the article is not about Banksy but about the type of people who will fly into the region only interested in looking at Banksy art and seing what bits o Banksy souvenirs they can grab and fly back home and who see the jaunt as another visit to a Banksy exhibition so that they can banksy wank all the way home and impress their Banksy nista friends with their tales of sleeping in the Banksy bed with their Banksy blow up doll.

   Who avoided any contact with local people and getting to know the locals and talking with them and making sure they spend their money in other local shops and hotels restaurants too.

If the Banksy hotel is a gateway into more direct contact with Palestinians in that area is what the hotel is trying to achieve. Banksy has done his part and the rest is down to people who decide to visit the hotel.

  The hotel has given some local people jobs and I cannot see Banksy closing it after six months as then it would be viewed as a gimmick, just some sort of rich persons pop up art thing where locals and their plight were used for some protest art. That would backfire big time on Banksy and i'm sure the hotel is there to stay for as long as the wall is there.

   The hotel manager is an artist and also gives talks about the situation in Bethlehem. Visit for the eye candy protest art and visit to make friends with the locals.




 It's linked to this article which is far more informative.


 "Buttu said that the most worrying aspect of what she referred to as “oppression tourism”"

www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=775854

It might be the Banksy Forum but I'd like to think the fanboy thing can withstand a healthy reality check. I've read worse critiques of his work, and in more artistically credible outlets then "The Quietus", but to me ultimately that's all they are, critiques and it makes a change from hearing all the praise, lots of which I have agreed with. Rather than dismiss it out of hand, I like the fact that it has made me consider issues I might not have considered about him or worse still subconsciously suppressed.

I simply don't get the personal attacks on Bella Gladman for having an opinion.
 

Well, if it's a proper hotel then you probably have to pay for a room. If it's just a museum I'm sure you have to pay to get in. Even at Dismaland you had to pay to get in. Additionally, I heard some of the art was for sale. I'm sure he's going to have to recoop his cost somehow. So if a penny is made on the whole deal then yes I call it exploitation.