Simple Intelligence Testing in Dumb Animals
Simple Intelligence Testing in Dumb Animals , also known as Simple Intelligence Testing , are five related paintings by British street artist Banksy . The 91.5 cm × 91.5 cm paintings, painted in oil on canvas, date from the year 2000 and are reminiscent of a comic strip . The five-part series shows an animal experiment with a chimpanzee . This sits in a laboratory in front of three cabinets. The intelligence test is about finding hidden bananas. The monkey opens all three cabinet doors. In the last cupboard he finds the bananas. He takes them out of the closet and escapes through a grille opening in the ceiling.
Image description
A chimpanzee sits in a white laboratory in front of three green cupboards. The three cupboards are in the middle of the room and fill almost a third of the picture. The rest of the picture is white. There are two red cubes on the left and middle cupboards. There is a red pyramid on the right cabinet. The bodies are about a third as high in relation to the cupboards. All the pictures in this series have the same color scheme, made up of muted basic tones that are applied to the surface. The resulting formal language also runs through the entire series.
In the first picture you can see how the chimpanzee is sitting in front of the cabinet on the left and opening the cabinet door. His left arm is outstretched, his hand is holding the door handle. The chimpanzee looks into an empty closet.
In the second picture you can see the monkey crouching in front of the middle cupboard. The left and right cabinet doors are closed. He has turned his back to the viewer, but you can still see his face in profile . The chimpanzee holds open the cabinet door with his left hand, his right hand is clenched into a fist that he supports on the floor. His gaze wanders in the direction of the inside of the cupboard, which again does not contain any bananas.
The third picture shows the chimpanzee sitting in front of the right cupboard, as in the first picture you can see him from the side. The left and middle cabinet doors are closed. The monkey holds the outer cabinet door open with his left hand. He has placed his right hand flat on the floor. The test animal looks at the bananas in the cupboard.
In the fourth picture the monkey is crouching in front of the closed cupboards. He sits in the middle of the picture, facing the viewer. The primate holds a banana each in his right and left hand. His gaze is directed towards the banana that is in his right hand.
The last picture shows the monkey fleeing through an opening in the ceiling. Only his tail can be seen, which looks out of the opening in the ceiling. A ventilation grille hangs down to the left of his tail. He reached the ventilation shaft via the three cabinets that are now stacked. The top cabinet door is a crack, the two other cabinets are wide open. The middle cabinet door is lifted from its hinge on the upper side. The lower cabinet is dented on the back. The two cubes and the pyramids are on the lower left of the picture, next to them a banana peel.
Image interpretation
The first three pictures show that the monkey opens the three safes at will without assigning any meaning to the three symbols on the safes. The instinct-driven animal is unable to recognize that the bananas are in the right vault with the pyramid. The monkey has to open all the cupboards to find the bananas. In the fourth picture we see the monkey holding two bananas in his hands. He has achieved his goal and found the bananas. After the fourth picture, the animal experiment would be over. During Banksy's series of experiments, however, the chimpanzee becomes aware that it is trapped in a laboratory. He finally breaks with his behavior and goes through a development.
While the monkey in the first pictures is primarily a symbol for the primitive in general, in the fifth picture, paradoxically, the connotations with positive connotations appear cunning and cheeky. Here the monkey manages to break out of its prison by stacking the safes on top of each other and slipping through the ceiling. The fifth picture serves as an alternative end to the test series. Unlike conventional animal experiments, Banksy gives the monkey the chance to escape the laboratory by using intelligence and available resources.
At Banksy, the monkey functions as a symbol for humans. He criticizes the kind of person who acts according to norms and rules without evaluating them and making their own decisions. Individual behaviors are subjected to social and political constraints. The series of images Simple Intelligence Testing in Dumb Animals is therefore to be understood as a system criticism. Banksy gives the solution in the last picture - this can be undermined by intelligent use of the tools provided by the system. Banksy's books “ Banging your head against a brick wall ” and “ Wall and Peace ” with the quote next to the series of images “A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to” consolidate this interpretation.
Provenance
The series of images was shown to the general public for the first time and sold as part of Banksy's first solo exhibition from February to April 2000 at the Severnshed restaurant in Bristol . On February 28, 2008, the five pictures were auctioned at Sotheby’s for $ 1,265,120. The bid went to an unknown private person.
literature
- Robin Banksy: Banging your head against a brick wall . Weapons of Mass Distraction publisher. London 2001, ISBN 0-9541704-0-7
- Robin Banksy: Wall and Peace. Random House . London 2006, ISBN 978-1-8441-3787-9
- Ulrich Blanché: Something to s (pr) ay: The Street Artivist Banksy. An art-historical investigation . Tectum Verlag, Marburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8288-2283-2
- Ulrich Blanché: Consumer Art . Culture and commerce at Banksy & Damien Hirst . Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2012, ISBN 978-3-8376-2139-6
Web links
- Katie Joyce: Wall and Peace In: art and peacebuilding, December 3, 2012
Individual evidence
- ^ Robin Banksy: Wall and Peace , p. 18
- ↑ Ulrich Blanché: Something to s (pr) ay. The street artist Banksy. An art-historical investigation , p. 84; Illustration
- ↑ Ulrich Blanché: Something to s (pr) ay. The street artist Banksy. An art-historical study , p. 84
- ↑ Ulrich Blanché: Something to s (p) ray. The street artist Banksy. , P. 85
- ^ Robin Banksy: Wall and Peace , p. 21