Queue grows for Banksy at Bristol Museum
Banksy fans are spending more and more time walking around the exhibition in Bristol – leaving people queuing outside with more than a three-hour wait.
Bristol City Council says each day visitors are spending longer inside the City Museum & Art Gallery, which has also meant fewer people are being admitted each day.
-
While an average of 4,700 people were being admitted to the museum every day in the first few weeks of the graffiti artist's show, which opened in June, an average of only 3,500 visitors are now making it inside.
Bristol City Council spokeswoman Helen Hewitt said the idea of placing a time limit on tickets had been ruled out before the exhibition was opened on June 13.
Almost 250,000 people have visited the free Banksy vs Bristol Museum exhibition and nearly 300,000 people will have seen it by the time it closes at the end of the month.
Ms Hewitt said: "People are staying in the museum longer and we can only have a certain number of people in the museum at one time.
"When the exhibition first opened, people were spending an average of 40 minutes in the museum but now people are waiting longer and making much more of a day of it when they get in.
"I spoke to someone recently who said they had spent four hours in there."
Last week, the Evening Post revealed that elusive Bristol-born graffiti artist Banksy was paid £1 by Bristol City Council for staging his exhibition in the museum.
A contract drawn up between a company representing the graffiti artist and the city council has been released after a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
It also insists the museum destroy all CCTV footage that might have captured the artist install, view or remove the exhibits 30 days after it was shot.
The document, published online, also commits the museum to cooperating with "the creation by the artist of a book about the exhibition".
At the beginning of the month, the city council announced that the exhibition would open for four late nights until 8pm to cater for demand.
29 Comments
View all
by PH, Redland
Wednesday, August 19 2009, 7:26AM
“WHY HAVE MY COMMENTS BEEN REMOVED AGAIN????? I AM ENTITLED TO CALL MIKE FORD A SANCTIMONIOUS TWIT JUST AS HE IS ENTITLED TO INSULT STUDENTS AND HOUSEWIVES- I WISH I HAD JUST CALLED HIM A TOTAL T*SSER !!!!”
by Knackeredmum, Bristle
Tuesday, August 18 2009, 9:40PM
“Very Crass Jack!
I think they should have had this exhibition elsewhere. I wanted to take my kids to the museum this holiday to see the fossils and the dinosaur. Because of this exhibition I couldn't. BCC and the museum have alienated people with young families and the regular visitors in favour of Banksy. I'm not saying the exhibition shouldn't have been staged - If I had 3 - 4 hours spare to queue I'd be down there like a shot However I think it should've been somewhere else. Preferably somewhere bigger With timed tickets so more people could go. Did they not realise that this situation would arise or did they not care???”
by Jack, Brist0l
Tuesday, August 18 2009, 8:45PM
“Steve St.George - dont you get it?? he's meking mugs out of everyone and laughing his a55 off. Money is just the bi-product. If he wanted vip treatment he would have stuck his photo in the paper by now or started beefing Jordan”
by steve, st george
Tuesday, August 18 2009, 7:52PM
“i think bristol city council should hang their heads in shame for allowing this vandal to use their museum to exhibit such rubbish brougt about by vandalism, banksy should be locked up, i hear he's anti capitalism apart from when it comes to selling HIS work and using the establishment to exhibit his crap.”
by Sandra, Clifton
Tuesday, August 18 2009, 7:07PM
“Mike - How many press-ups you done tonight?”
by Bemused, Bristol
Tuesday, August 18 2009, 6:23PM
“Perhaps if the museum paid Banksy another £1 he'd let them keep the exhibition going for another month...all the folks who couldn't get to see it during the summer holidays may get a chance to see it then.
;)”
by Another Anon, Bristol
Tuesday, August 18 2009, 6:21PM
“If I'd waited more than 3 hours to get in I'd want to spend a damn sight longer than 40 mins looking at the exhibition......”
by Sarah, Bristol
Tuesday, August 18 2009, 12:57PM
“How does an art exhibition suddenly turn into robbery from peoples pad? I agree some peoples work is badly placed but the great thing about banksy's work is that it all is in great places that nobody would cry about, its all messages too not those stupid tags that nobody can read anyway.
And I would LOVE a banksy on the side of my wall and I'd charge everyone to view it lol!”
by dave, bristol
Tuesday, August 18 2009, 11:48AM
“Thats why the rules are in place. To allow the likes of you to pretend you are breaking them. You would be lost and have nothing to fallback on if the majority followed your way of thinking. After all aren't you following some type of rule for you to be posting comments on here? fool!”
by Shelly, Bristol
Tuesday, August 18 2009, 11:42AM
“'...posh, student, fake communist idiots...' Mike ford, Bristol
Mike I'm none of the above. Please may I go and see the Banksy exhibition!”