Over the weekend, New York was given a wake up call. British artist Banksy set up a pop up art stall in Central Park. His booth advertised 100% authentic original art by Banksy and like the “snobby” New Yorkers we are, most of us ignored it, passing it off another knock off. Because of the environment it was staged in — a random sidewalk, it was easy to overlook because it most likely reminded most New Yorkers of the pop up stalls that littered the streets of lower Manhattan, Canal street and Soho where vendors sold a lot of fake products.
This reminded me of the time when Joshua Bell played the violin in a crowded metro station in DC. He did this as a social experiment to see how people would perceive talent and beauty given the environment it is placed in. The aim of this experiment was: “in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?”

So, in the case of Banksy selling his art on the street, do we only recognize his art as great when it’s in a clean white gallery and ignore it if it’s just sitting there on the street?