Exhibit Review: Banksy “Without Limits”
The Banksy exhibit in Edmonton City Centre is a great display of the artist's work, and it's definitely something to check out.
Liam HodderThe Art of Banksy: “Without Limits” exhibition is running until January 11 at Edmonton City Centre. The exhibition, said to be more of a cultural experience than an exhibition, recreates some of the artist’s past works, and has some originals too.
Banksy is an anonymous artist who specializes in graffiti, but has struck out into sculptural and performance work. And the event displays this well.
On the first floor of the exhibit is a long timeline of Banksy’s works with their dates and their political contexts, all leading to the current day.
Past the timeline is a large recreation of an armed security check from Banksy’s Dismaland exhibition. Dismaland was a large exhibition from 2015 where Banksy created a “bemusement park” which commented on and satirised amusement parks. This was was one my favourite installations. It’s life-size and made out of cardboard, and because of it’s placement, you have to walk through it. After passing through, there’s some banknotes from the original exhibition and some other works to check out.
Upstairs is where most of the works are, and they’re set up really well. Roaming around upstairs is where you’ll find a majority of the the installations. There’s everything from prints to sculptures and full wall installations of multiple works. And while the works are great, the feeling of looking at them isn’t.
Banksy’s works tackle heavy subjects which make you consider your place in them. Many of the issues are under the European lens, but they still hold relevance to us here in Canada. And especially in Alberta for some. They call out everything from oil to anti-immigration and over-reaching governments.
And they even call out you, the person who spent money to look at Banksy prints.
If you go and pay the $26 to see this exhibit, you’ll surely end up taking a look at Morons on the second floor. The print shows an auctioneer selling one of Banksy’s works, which reads “I can’t believe you morons actually buy this shit.”
On the way out to the escalator back down there’s recreated murals depicting civilians in Ukraine during the war, and these are my favourite. The whole wall turned to rubble with bits of concrete spread along the floor was a great display for them.
Along the top floor, the only thing I’d say is worth missing is the hologram room. It’s weird, small, not much of a hologram. The infinity room, however, is something to check out and look around in for a few minutes. But then again, it’s better to just go and actually see Banksy’s work in the next room than watch videos of it.
As a whole, the exhibit is worth checking out and it’s really well done. There’s tons of thought provoking work and I guarantee you will find relevance to yourself and the world you live in going through.
