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Meet the Crowd-Sourced Cast of the New Banksy Doc

The documentary about Banksy's 2013 residency in New York is available on HBO Go starting today. Here are some of the vibrant characters who drive the story.

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Today, the user-generated street art documentary, Banksy Does New York, premieres on HBOGo. The film follows the notorious street artist's month-long residency in New York City, Better Out Than In, during which he created one new public artwork every day.

After a massive media following emerged around the artist's sudden appearance in New York, a number of 'Banksy Hunters' emerged. Their borough-wide searches resulted in a massive, crowd-sourced bank of pictures, tweets, and videos  that would become parts of Banksy's art in their own respects—it was as if the desire to be the finder of the newest Banksy work became part of the art experience itself. For Banksy Does New York director Chris Moukarbel, the task was to create a documentary about Banksy's residency after it had already ended, prompting him and his team to rely on the work of these intrepid art-lovers.

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We've been teasing the documentary all week—now, from Banksy hunters to Banksy's ambassadors, meet the crowd-sourcing cast of Banksy Does New York, below:

TwoWayTraffic

The plucky vloggers known as TwoWayTraffic made it to nearly every Banksy piece before it was vandalized or taken away, offering up spirited commentary on the nature of their Banksy hunt. With video titles like, "BANKSY BLEW OUR MINDS TODAY!" and a stalwart commitment to mispronouncing Banksy's name "Bansky," TwoWayTraffic adds a layer of airy humor to the often heady issues presented in the film, and expresses geniune love for the globally ongoing game of Banksy hide-and-seek.

The Wet Wipe Boys

One of the most confounding things about Banksy's residency was the army of street artists who made it their missions to tag and obfuscate Banksy's work. While the irony of disavowing the select few tasked themselves with vandalizing the work of a fellow vandal, the Banksy-hunting community certainly appreciated the efforts of the Wet Wipe Boys, a group of good samaritans who hand-salvaged Banksy's spray art with an arsenal of moist towelettes.

Stephan Keszler

An ambassador between the contemporary art world and the streets, the art dealer and owner of the Keszler Gallery in Southampton plays an important role in Banksy Does New York: in the documentary, he gathers many of Banksy's works from Better Out Than In, including the Sidewalk Sphinx and the Brooklyn Broken Heart.

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5POINTZ

The whitewashing and demolition of graffiti mecca 5POINTZ coincided perfectly with Banksy's residency, forming a bridge between the Banksy-hunting media and those fighting to save the spray art landmark. The controversy surrounding the building's demise even warranted a response from Banksky himself, who concluded Better Out Than In with the simple phrase, “Thanks for your patience. It’s been fun. Save 5 Pointz. Bye." The building's place in the narrative of Banksy Does New York makes it just as much a character as any of the Banksy Hunters or art historians who helped contextualize the monthlong art spree.

Banksy

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While Banksy admittedly never appears in the film, and Moukarbel made it a point to not try and unmask him, it was Banksy who brought all these people together, it was Banksy who created an exhibition that expertly exploited the social media marketplace, and it is Banksy who continues to intrigue and surprise the art world to this day. The Banksy Hunters take the lead role in Banksy Does New York, but the remains an ever-present character throughout, giving us the feeling that Banksy might always have had an eye on the events he set in motion.

Check out the Banksy Does New York website for more information, or tune in to HBO Go to watch the full movie today.

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