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Already lot of speculations on trivikram’s next film and recent news is Trivikram may direct Suriya’s next after singham123.Already there have been reports that Suriya wants to do a staraight telugu film .This film can be a new high for suriya in telugu and for Trivikram in ...
In April 2009, amidst speculation about the cause of the shortage of young people going to sea, the ITF, along with industry partner INTERTANKO, brought together a small focus group of young seafarers. www.itfseafarers.org/YSF-focus-group.cfm
Jessa Duggar
Jessa duggar sparks pregnancy speculation in new photo by alyssa norwin, march 23, 2015. with jill duggar’s baby due any day now, is another duggar.This is a photo of michelle and jim bob duggar kissing -- and it's a recreation of their daughter's jessa seewald's k...
Jessa Duggar
Jessa duggar sparks pregnancy speculation in new photo by alyssa norwin, march 23, 2015. with jill duggar’s baby due any day now, is another duggar.This is a photo of michelle and jim bob duggar kissing -- and it's a recreation of their daughter's jessa seewald's k...
The Terracotta Army or the "Terracotta Warriors and Horses" is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. The figures, dating from approximately the late third century BCE, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the Terracotta Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which remained buried in the pits nearby Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. Other terracotta non-military figures were found in other pits, including officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians.
BACKGROUND
The Terracotta Army was discovered on 29 March 1974 to the east of Xi'an in Shaanxi province by farmers digging a water well approximately 1.6 kilometres east of the Qin Emperor's tomb mound at Mount Li (Lishan), a region riddled with underground springs and watercourses. For centuries, occasional reports mentioned pieces of terracotta figures and fragments of the Qin necropolis – roofing tiles, bricks and chunks of masonry. This discovery prompted Chinese archaeologists to investigate, revealing the largest pottery figurine group ever found in China.
NECROPROLIS
In addition to the warriors, an entire necropolis built for the emperor was found surrounding the first emperor's tomb mound. The earthen tomb mound is located at the foot of Mount Li and built in a pyramidal shape with Qin Shi Huang’s necropolis complex constructed as a microcosm of his imperial palace or compound.
It consists of several offices, halls, stables, and other structures placed around the tomb mound, which is surrounded by two solidly built rammed earth walls with gateway entrances. Up to 5 metres of reddish, sandy soil had accumulated over the site in the two millennia following its construction, but archaeologists found evidence of earlier disturbances at the site. During the excavations near the Mount Li burial mound, archaeologists found several graves dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where diggers had apparently struck terracotta fragments. These were discarded as worthless and used along with soil to back fill the excavations.
HISTORY
According to the writings of historian Sima Qian (145–90 BCE), work on the mausoleum began in 246 BCE soon after Emperor Qin (then aged 13) ascended the throne. The project eventually involved 700,000 workers. Geographer Li Daoyuan, writing six centuries after the First Emperor's death, recorded in Shui Jing Zhu that Mount Li was a favoured location due to its auspicious geology, "famed for its jade mines, its northern side was rich in gold, and its southern side rich in beautiful jade; the First Emperor, covetous of its fine reputation, therefore chose to be buried there". Sima Qian, in his most noted work, Shiji, finished a century after the mausoleum's completion, wrote that the First Emperor was buried with palaces, towers, officials, valuable artifacts and wondrous objects. According to this account, 100 rivers had their flow simulated by mercury, and above them the ceiling was decorated with heavenly bodies below which were the features of the land. Some translations of this passage refer to "models" or "imitations," however those words were not used in the original text, which makes no mention of the terracotta army.
High levels of mercury were found in the soil of the tomb mound, giving credence to Sima Qian's account.
Later historical accounts suggested that the tomb had been looted by Xiang Yu, a contender for the throne after the death of the first emperor, however, there are indications that the tomb may not have been plundered.
CONSTRUCTION
The terracotta army figures were manufactured in workshops by government laborers and local craftsmen using local materials. Heads, arms, legs, and torsos were created separately and then assembled. Eight face moulds were most likely used, with clay added after assembly to provide individual facial features.
It is believed that the warriors' legs were made in much the same way that terracotta drainage pipes were manufactured at the time. This would classify the process as assembly line production, with specific parts manufactured and assembled after being fired, as opposed to crafting one solid piece and subsequently firing it. In those times of tight imperial control, each workshop was required to inscribe its name on items produced to ensure quality control. This has aided modern historians in verifying which workshops were commandeered to make tiles and other mundane items for the terracotta army. Upon completion, the terracotta figures were placed in the pits in precise military formation according to rank and duty.
The terracotta figures are life-sized. They vary in height, uniform, and hairstyle in accordance with rank. Most originally held real weapons such as spears, swords, or crossbows. Originally, the figures were also painted with bright pigments, variously coloured pink, red, green, blue, black, brown, white and lilac. The coloured lacquer finish, individual facial features, and weapons used in producing these figures increased the figures' realism. Most of the original weapons were looted shortly after the creation of the army, or have rotted away, while the colour coating flaked off or greatly faded.
THE TOMB
The tomb appears to be a hermetically-sealed space the size of a football pitch. The tomb remains unopened, given concerns about preserving its artifacts. For example, after their excavation, the painted surface present on some terracotta figures began to flake and fade. The lacquer covering the paint can curl in fifteen seconds once exposed to Xi'an's dry air and can flake off in just four minutes. There is speculation of a possible Hellenistic link to these sculptures, due to the lack of life-sized and realistic sculptures prior to the Qin dynasty according to some scholars.
EXCAVATION SITE
PITS
Four main pits approximately 7 metres deep have been excavated. These are located approximately 1.5 kilometres east of the burial mound. The soldiers within were laid out as if to protect the tomb from the east, where all the Qin Emperor's conquered states lay.
PIT ONE
Pit one, which is 230 metres long and 62 metres wide,contains the main army of more than 6,000 figures. Pit one has 11corridors, most of which are more than 3 metres wide and paved with small bricks with a wooden ceiling supported by large beams and posts. This design was also used for the tombs of nobles and would have resembled palace hallways when built. The wooden ceilings were covered with reed mats and layers of clay for waterproofing, and then mounded with more soil raising them about 2 to 3 metres above the surrounding ground level when completed.
OTHERS
Pit two has cavalry and infantry units as well as war chariots and is thought to represent a military guard. Pit three is the command post, with high-ranking officers and a war chariot. Pit four is empty, perhaps left unfinished by its builders.
Some of the figures in pit one and two show fire damage, while remains of burnt ceiling rafters have also been found.
These, together with the missing weapons, have been taken as evidence of the reported looting by Xiang Yu and the subsequent burning of the site, which is thought to have caused the roof to collapse and crush the army figures below. The terracotta figures currently on display have been restored from the fragments.Other pits that formed the necropolis also have been excavated. These pits lie within and outside the walls surrounding the tomb mound. They variously contain bronze carriages, terracotta figures of entertainers such as acrobats and strongmen, officials, stone armour suits, burials sites of horses, rare animals and labourers, as well as bronze cranes and ducks set in an underground park.
WEAPONRY
Weapons such as swords, spears, battle-axes, scimitars, shields, crossbows, and arrowheads were found in the pits. Some of these weapons, such as the swords are sharp and were coated with a 10–15 micrometre layer of chromium dioxide and kept the swords rust-free for 2,000 years. The swords contain an alloy of copper, tin, and other elements including nickel, magnesium, and cobalt. Some carry inscriptions that date manufacture between 245 and 228 BCE, indicating they were used as weapons before their burials.
An important element of the army is the chariot, of which four types were found. In battle the fighting chariots form pairs at the head of a unit of infantry. The principal weapon of the charioteers was the ge or dagger-axe, an L-shaped bronze blade mounted on a long shaft used for sweeping and hooking at the enemy. Infantrymen also carried ge on shorter shafts, ji or halberds and spears and lances. For close fighting and defence, both charioteers and infantrymen carried double-edged straight swords. The archers carried crossbows, with sophisticated trigger mechanisms, capable of firing arrows farther than 800 metres.
EXHIBITIONS
A collection of 120 objects from the mausoleum and 20 terracotta warriors were displayed at the British Museum in London as its special exhibition "The First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army" from 13 September 2007 to April 2008. This exhibition made 2008 the British Museum's most successful year and made the British Museum the United Kingdom's top cultural attraction between 2007 and 2008. The exhibition brought the most visitors to the museum since the King Tutankhamun exhibition in 1972. It was reported that the initial batch of tickets sold out so fast that the museum extended its opening hours until midnight on Thursdays to Sundays. According to The Times, many people had to be turned away, despite the extended hours. During the day of events to mark the Chinese New Year, the crush was so intense that the gates to the museum had to be shut. The Terracotta Army has been described as the only other set of historic artifacts (along with the remnants of wreck of the RMS Titanic) that can draw a crowd by the name alone.
Warriors and other artifacts were exhibited to the public at the Forum de Barcelona in Barcelona between 9 May and 26 September 2004. It was their most successful exhibition ever. The same exhibition was presented at the Fundación Canal de Isabel II in Madrid between October 2004 and January 2005, their most successful ever. From December 2009 to May 2010 the exhibition was shown in the Centro Cultural La Moneda in Santiago de Chile.
The exhibition traveled to North America and visited museums such as the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California, Houston Museum of Natural Science, High Museum of Art in Atlanta, National Geographic Society Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. Subsequently the exhibition traveled to Sweden and was hosted in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities between 28 August 2010 and 20 January 2011. An exhibition entitled 'The First Emperor – China's Entombed Warriors', presenting 120 artifacts was hosted at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, between 2 December 2010 and 13 March 2011. An exhibition entitled "L'Empereur guerrier de Chine et son armée de terre cuite" ("The Warrior-Emperor of China and his terracotta army"), featuring artifacts including statues from the mausoleum, was hosted by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from 11 February 2011 to 26 June 2011. In Italy, from July 2008 to November 16, 2008, five of the warriors of the terracotta army were exposed in Turin at the Museum of Antiquities, and from 16 April 2010 to 5 September 2010 were exposed nine warriors in Milan, at the Royal Palace, at the exhibition entitled "The Two Empires". The group consisted of a horse, a counselor, an archer and 6 Lancers. The "Treasures of Ancient China" exhibition, showcasing two terracotta soldiers and other artifacts, including the Longmen Grottoes Buddhist statues, was held between 19 February 2011 and 7 November 2011 in four locations in India: National Museum of New Delhi, Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai, Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad and National Library of India in Kolkata.
Soldiers and related items were on display from March 15, 2013, to November 17, 2013, at the Historical Museum of Bern.
SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
In 2007, scientists at Stanford University and the Advanced Light Source facility in Berkeley, California reported that powder diffraction experiments combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and micro-X-ray fluorescence analysis showed that the process of producing Terracotta figures colored with Chinese purple dye consisting of barium copper silicate was derived from the knowledge gained by Taoist alchemists in their attempts to synthesize jade ornaments.
Since 2006, an international team of researchers at the UCL Institute of Archaeology have been using analytical chemistry techniques to uncover more details about the production techniques employed in the creation of the Terracotta Army. Using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry of 40,000 bronze arrowheads bundled in groups of 100, the researchers reported that the arrowheads within a single bundle formed a relatively tight cluster that was different from other bundles. In addition, the presence or absence of metal impurities was consistent within bundles. Based on the arrows’ chemical compositions, the researchers concluded that a cellular manufacturing system similar to the one used in a modern Toyota factory, as opposed to a continuous assembly line in the early days of automobile industry, was employed.
Grinding and polishing marks visible under a scanning electron microscope provide evidence for the earliest industrial use of lathes for polishing.
Airbnb boxes, keys to Airbnb apartments in Prague, chains
Desk with monitor standing on large lever pliers
Video with documentation of urban direct action
On the table board lies the coat of arms of Prague made of epoxide, in which the keys to Prague apartments are encased
A multimedia installation of locks that, when a code is entered, give out the keys to an adjacent apartment building. The keys are stored in these boxes by owners of short-term Airbnb rentals. So that they don't even have to greet the tourists they rent out their properties to on arrival, thus minimizing their operating costs and maximizing their profits. Thus, houses where locals have lived for generations become illegal hotels. The online platform Airbnb, which is used by landlords for commercial purposes, is a toxic phenomenon in most major European cities. The burden of this traffic is being passed on to the old inhabitants and is one of the reasons for gentrification and displacement of the local population. Our cities are becoming uninhabitable not only for the lower but also for the middle class. The process of transformation of flat-houses into short-term accommodation is taking place on a global scale. Various European cities are trying to regulate the Airbnb project. The biggest players in this field in the Czech Republic are also local oligarchs with billions in profits.. The existence of the social network Airbnb has allowed the richest to become even richer, while the poorer ones have to move out of neighbourhoods where their families have lived for generations. We need to radically demonstrate that housing should not be an object of speculation and investment, but a basic human right. Expropriate the oligarchs!
The speculation which accompanied my photograph of 21 January 2014 was, perhaps, misplaced. In mid-February, the roof of the Cherque Farm No. 6 substation was replaced. I was surprised that it was left open to the elements for as long as it was. My followers will know how OCDish I am so they will not be surprised that I noticed two metal brackets on the new roof (visible in this picture) which I assume to be lifting points for what appears to be single piece structure.
200_P1010058
The smugness of this speculator in railroad stocks is palpable. During the 1840s in the U.S., merchants and other members of the middle class began trading stocks widely, and the first guidebooks about speculating on Wall Street were published. The most popular railroad shares were called "fancy stocks," trading at huge multiples of their earnings and with enormous volatility that often wiped out amateur speculators.
Currier and Ives engraving, 1849.
The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2001706289/
Accompanying an article about speculation in freeholds, and houseowners selling the houses but holding onto the freeholds.
I wanted to see whether it listed my house as leasehold ("erfpacht" - have to pay the land owner periodically) or freehold ("eigen grond"). My place shows up as freehold (yay!) and I confirmed this weeks later by looking at my house's appraisal. So I don't have to worry about someone else jacking up my land lease as part of a new speculative bubble.
The whole leasehold vs. freehold thing is more common the UK and here in the Netherlands--maybe elsewhere on the continent--than In the US, where you usually get the land with the house. But I wouldn't be surprised if US developers hang onto the land after all these days.
Highly lax regulation of commodity futures speculation makes market abuse frighteningly feasible.
...
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission will purportedly consider "generous" (i.e. weak) position limits for energy trading.
www.heatingoil.com/blog/inside-source-cftc-will-enact-gen...
(image: mediainfidel.com)
Liana K. I had pictures of all the guests, but for some reason every picture turned out bad. They were either squinting their eyes, their jaw was in weird shapes, they wouldn't appear on camera because one of them was a vampire, and so on.
Liana K had the distinction of having one picture where she was photogenic.
Conspiracy Theory Poster Billboard stating that on 9/11 the World Trade Center was destroyed by explosive demolition - Crazy People looking into paranoid speculation 8th Ave and 40th Street NYC 2015 Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth Nutjobs Nutjob Wacko theories Free Speech Crazy Talk etc
FCB NEWS : After weeks of rumours and speculations surrounding his future, Sergi Roberto seems set to stay put at Barcelona and sign a new two-year contract with the club, reports Mundo Deportivo.Roberto, a product of Barcelona’s La Masia youth setup, has been with the first-team since 2009 but has never been a regular starter. Nonetheless, his ability to play in multiple positions across the pitch have made him a valuable player at Camp Nou. And, it seems like this versatility may have played a key role in him potentially securing a new contract with the Catalans.Roberto is currently in the final year of his existing deal with Barca, and had been heavily linked with a summer exit. There had been rumours of a reunion with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City while Serie A champions Inter Milan had also expressed an interest in the 29-year-old’s services in the recent past.Barcelona, at one point, were said to be keen on selling Roberto, after informal talks over a one-year extension had fallen through. However, the Catalan giants have now seemingly performed a major U-turn on their academy graduate, and are ready to keep him at the club by handing a new two-year contract.The change in stance emanates from the fact that Barcelona see Roberto as a valuable option who can fill in at right-back in case Sergino Dest is moved to left-back as cover for Jordi Alba. The Catalans believe that the 29-year-old could himself be used on the left side of the backline.In
fistade.com/fcb-news-report-barcelona-set-to-extend-sergi...
There's much speculation as to exactly what this is. Some say poo, some say egg capsules of some kind. Personally, I'd go with alien jewelery. If you know, please add a comment.
One thing I never did at SDCC was take multiple shots. Glad I learned my lesson, this is a great shot pose wise but her hand has a little motion blur.
Jessa Duggar
Jessa duggar sparks pregnancy speculation in new photo by alyssa norwin, march 23, 2015. with jill duggar’s baby due any day now, is another duggar.This is a photo of michelle and jim bob duggar kissing -- and it's a recreation of their daughter's jessa seewald's k...
Finance professor Sheridan Tittman compared commodity speculation to superbowl betting in order to explain why speculation in the oil futures market is not responsible for today's high oil prices. Steven Zweig offers his rebuttal.
...
www.heatingoil.com/blog/opinion-titman%e2%80%99s-analogy-...
(image: sixthman.net)
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the world. His work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack.
Banksy displays his art on publicly visible surfaces such as walls and self-built physical prop pieces. He no longer sells photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti, but his public "installations" are regularly resold, often even by removing the wall on which they were painted. Much of his work can be classified as temporary art. A small number of his works are officially, non-publicly, sold through an agency he created called Pest Control. Banksy's documentary film Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In January 2011, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for the film. In 2014, he was awarded Person of the Year at the 2014 Webby Awards.
Banksy's name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. In a 2003 interview with Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian, Banksy is described as "white, 28, scruffy casual—jeans, T-shirt, a silver tooth, silver chain and silver earring. He looks like a cross between Jimmy Nail and Mike Skinner of The Streets." An ITV News segment of 2003 featured a short interview with someone identified in the reporting as Banksy. Banksy began as an artist at the age of 14, was expelled from school, and served time in prison for petty crime. According to Hattenstone, "anonymity is vital to him because graffiti is illegal". Banksy reportedly lived in Easton, Bristol, during the late 1990s, before moving to London around 2000.
In an interview with the BBC in 2003, which was rediscovered in November 2023, reporter Nigel Wrench asked if Banksy is called Robert Banks; Banksy responded that his forename is Robbie. The Mail on Sunday claimed in 2008 that Banksy is Robin Gunningham, born on 28 July 1974 in Yate, 12 miles (19 km) from Bristol. Several of Gunningham's associates and former schoolmates at Bristol Cathedral School have corroborated this, and, in 2016, a study by researchers at the Queen Mary University of London using geographic profiling found that the incidence of Banksy's works correlated with the known movements of Gunningham. According to The Sunday Times, Gunningham began employing the name Robin Banks, which eventually became Banksy. Two cassette sleeves featuring his art work from 1993, for the Bristol band Mother Samosa, exist with his signature. In June 2017, DJ Goldie referred to Banksy as "Rob" in an interview for a podcast.
Other speculations on Banksy's identity include the following:
Robert Del Naja (also known as 3D), a member of the trip hop band Massive Attack, had been a graffiti artist during the 1980s prior to forming the band, and was previously identified as a personal friend of Banksy.
In 2020, users on Twitter began to speculate that former Art Attack presenter Neil Buchanan was Banksy. This was denied by Buchanan's publicist.
In 2022, Billy Gannon, a local councillor in Pembroke Dock was rumoured to be Banksy. He subsequently resigned because the speculation was affecting his ability to carry out the duties of a councillor. "I'm being asked to prove who I am not, and the person that I am not may not exist," he said. "I mean, how am I supposed to prove that I'm not somebody who doesn't exist? Just how do you do that?"
In October 2014, an internet hoax circulated that Banksy had been arrested and his identity revealed.
'Serious Money' at Greenwich Theatre, dress rehearsal on Wed 3 June 2009, as part of the level 3 London Season 2
A vicious satire on the cocaine- fuelled greed of traders in London?s money markets. The play was a scandalous success when first performed at the Royal Court in 1987. Now as the crunch drives us into recession, the play is a prescient reminder of the folly of unregulated
speculation. Written in the verse style of a ribald City Comedy with rhyming couplets and obscene songs, this comedy at least allows us to laugh at the way we have allowed bust to follow boom.
Author:Caryl Churchill
Director:David Zoob
Designer:Daisy Plackett
Lighting Designer:John Cooke
Sound Designer:Robert Allen
Speculation: Edward de Vere? Catholic? bisexual?
Inscription (modern spelling and punctuation):
Stay, passenger, why goest thou by so fast?
Read, if thou canst, whom envious Death hath placed
Within this monument: Shakespeare, with whom
Quick nature died, whose name doth deck this tomb
Far more than cost, since all that he hath writ
Leaves living art, but page, to serve his wit.
While global food prices are rising, pushing the world's poorest people into hunger, bankers are betting on food prices and once again look set to push them even higher.
We're campaigning hard for new laws to regulate food speculation - and the next few weeks will be crucial.
Euro MPs and finance ministers are both about to decide their position on the new rules. The UK government, represented by Chancellor George Osborne, is opposed to strong rules to tackle food speculation.
So we are going to present him with a photo petition to show him just how many people are concerned about the issue.
This project is my speculation about presumable existence of parallel universes. The universe is infinite, but there is only limited amount of particles everything is made of. That means, that any combination of limited amount of participles will repeat again. Theory of hyperspace says, that our universe is just one small bubble in the foam full of bubbles.What if somewhere there, in the depth of infinite universe, exists exactly the same version of me?
Or you?
This video explains deemed speculation in the hands of company in view of explanation to Section 73 of the Act.
Deemed Speculation under Income Tax Act
Explore CA Mehul Thakker Video Lectures at www.mtliveca.com/video-lectures/
MTLiveCA wishes you safety
www.mtliveca.com | info@mtliveca.com | 9313546209
Gabriel Kuri, Speculation III (Energetic Implosion . . .), 2007, painted plywood, mixed media, and Overlapping Statistic (Blind Olives Eyelid), 2007, painted plywood, weatherproof roofing roll, painted glass, tissue box, painted jar, isolating roll, courtesy the artist and kurimanzutto, Mexico City
After speculation about why the developers of Star Citizen — Cloud Imperium Games, took a loan from the British company Coutts & Co, the Studio officially commented about the incident.
As I suspected, this was done in order to save money. The point is that the British gaming
gameplaying.info/cig-explained-the-reason-for-the-loan-st...
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the world. His work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack.
Banksy displays his art on publicly visible surfaces such as walls and self-built physical prop pieces. He no longer sells photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti, but his public "installations" are regularly resold, often even by removing the wall on which they were painted. Much of his work can be classified as temporary art. A small number of his works are officially, non-publicly, sold through an agency he created called Pest Control. Banksy's documentary film Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In January 2011, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for the film. In 2014, he was awarded Person of the Year at the 2014 Webby Awards.
Banksy's name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. In a 2003 interview with Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian, Banksy is described as "white, 28, scruffy casual—jeans, T-shirt, a silver tooth, silver chain and silver earring. He looks like a cross between Jimmy Nail and Mike Skinner of The Streets." An ITV News segment of 2003 featured a short interview with someone identified in the reporting as Banksy. Banksy began as an artist at the age of 14, was expelled from school, and served time in prison for petty crime. According to Hattenstone, "anonymity is vital to him because graffiti is illegal". Banksy reportedly lived in Easton, Bristol, during the late 1990s, before moving to London around 2000.
In an interview with the BBC in 2003, which was rediscovered in November 2023, reporter Nigel Wrench asked if Banksy is called Robert Banks; Banksy responded that his forename is Robbie. The Mail on Sunday claimed in 2008 that Banksy is Robin Gunningham, born on 28 July 1974 in Yate, 12 miles (19 km) from Bristol. Several of Gunningham's associates and former schoolmates at Bristol Cathedral School have corroborated this, and, in 2016, a study by researchers at the Queen Mary University of London using geographic profiling found that the incidence of Banksy's works correlated with the known movements of Gunningham. According to The Sunday Times, Gunningham began employing the name Robin Banks, which eventually became Banksy. Two cassette sleeves featuring his art work from 1993, for the Bristol band Mother Samosa, exist with his signature. In June 2017, DJ Goldie referred to Banksy as "Rob" in an interview for a podcast.
Other speculations on Banksy's identity include the following:
Robert Del Naja (also known as 3D), a member of the trip hop band Massive Attack, had been a graffiti artist during the 1980s prior to forming the band, and was previously identified as a personal friend of Banksy.
In 2020, users on Twitter began to speculate that former Art Attack presenter Neil Buchanan was Banksy. This was denied by Buchanan's publicist.
In 2022, Billy Gannon, a local councillor in Pembroke Dock was rumoured to be Banksy. He subsequently resigned because the speculation was affecting his ability to carry out the duties of a councillor. "I'm being asked to prove who I am not, and the person that I am not may not exist," he said. "I mean, how am I supposed to prove that I'm not somebody who doesn't exist? Just how do you do that?"
In October 2014, an internet hoax circulated that Banksy had been arrested and his identity revealed.
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based street artist, political activist, and film director whose real name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. Active since the 1990s, his satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stenciling technique. His works of political and social commentary have appeared on streets, walls, and bridges throughout the world. His work grew out of the Bristol underground scene, which involved collaborations between artists and musicians. Banksy says that he was inspired by 3D, a graffiti artist and founding member of the musical group Massive Attack.
Banksy displays his art on publicly visible surfaces such as walls and self-built physical prop pieces. He no longer sells photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti, but his public "installations" are regularly resold, often even by removing the wall on which they were painted. Much of his work can be classified as temporary art. A small number of his works are officially, non-publicly, sold through an agency he created called Pest Control. Banksy's documentary film Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. In January 2011, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for the film. In 2014, he was awarded Person of the Year at the 2014 Webby Awards.
Banksy's name and identity remain unconfirmed and the subject of speculation. In a 2003 interview with Simon Hattenstone of The Guardian, Banksy is described as "white, 28, scruffy casual—jeans, T-shirt, a silver tooth, silver chain and silver earring. He looks like a cross between Jimmy Nail and Mike Skinner of The Streets." An ITV News segment of 2003 featured a short interview with someone identified in the reporting as Banksy. Banksy began as an artist at the age of 14, was expelled from school, and served time in prison for petty crime. According to Hattenstone, "anonymity is vital to him because graffiti is illegal". Banksy reportedly lived in Easton, Bristol, during the late 1990s, before moving to London around 2000.
In an interview with the BBC in 2003, which was rediscovered in November 2023, reporter Nigel Wrench asked if Banksy is called Robert Banks; Banksy responded that his forename is Robbie. The Mail on Sunday claimed in 2008 that Banksy is Robin Gunningham, born on 28 July 1974 in Yate, 12 miles (19 km) from Bristol. Several of Gunningham's associates and former schoolmates at Bristol Cathedral School have corroborated this, and, in 2016, a study by researchers at the Queen Mary University of London using geographic profiling found that the incidence of Banksy's works correlated with the known movements of Gunningham. According to The Sunday Times, Gunningham began employing the name Robin Banks, which eventually became Banksy. Two cassette sleeves featuring his art work from 1993, for the Bristol band Mother Samosa, exist with his signature. In June 2017, DJ Goldie referred to Banksy as "Rob" in an interview for a podcast.
Other speculations on Banksy's identity include the following:
Robert Del Naja (also known as 3D), a member of the trip hop band Massive Attack, had been a graffiti artist during the 1980s prior to forming the band, and was previously identified as a personal friend of Banksy.
In 2020, users on Twitter began to speculate that former Art Attack presenter Neil Buchanan was Banksy. This was denied by Buchanan's publicist.
In 2022, Billy Gannon, a local councillor in Pembroke Dock was rumoured to be Banksy. He subsequently resigned because the speculation was affecting his ability to carry out the duties of a councillor. "I'm being asked to prove who I am not, and the person that I am not may not exist," he said. "I mean, how am I supposed to prove that I'm not somebody who doesn't exist? Just how do you do that?"
In October 2014, an internet hoax circulated that Banksy had been arrested and his identity revealed.