Art Reboot

9 introduction On 5 October 2018 a framed image of a work called Girl with Balloon by the artist Banksy was sold for £1,042,000 in an eve- ning sale of contemporary art at Sotheby’s, a record price for the artist at the time. Moments after the hammer fell, something extraordinary happened. The image, which was hanging in its frame in the saleroom, began to move downwards, propelled by a hidden shredder that sliced it into strips as it left the frame. Some of those present reacted with horror at the apparent destruction of a million-pound work of art, and others with intrigued delight at Banksy’s extraordinary command of aesthetic attention. Amid the chaos, one person was not at all surprised: whoever had remotely activated the shredder. Much debate about this incident ensued. Many were puzzled that anyone would pay such a price for a stencilled image of a girl with a balloon in the first place. Others were amused by or admired the creativity of the act. But the overall response from the public, including art-world insiders, indicated widespread confusion about the critical shift of attention, from art object to art process , required to make sense of the event. The artist under- stood this, even if much of the audience did not, as he radically