Entertainment
Banksy pledges $ 13.3million to help transform the UK prison where Oscar Wilde was once held into an art center
Banksy has emerged as a possible white knight in a long unrealized plan to turn the vacant prison where Oscar Wilde was once held into an art center. Reading Gaol has been on sale since 2019 and, without a better deal, could potentially be converted into apartments.
The famous street artist offered to sell the stencil he used to paint a mural on the facade of the famous building in March. The sale could bring in 10 million ($ 13.3 million) to support the Reading Borough Council’s bid to buy the historic grade II listed building in Reading, about 40 miles west of London.
Earlier this year, Banksy unveiled the mural, which shows an inmate descending a rope made of sheets with a typewriter as a weight on the bottom. Wilde was one of the prison’s most famous inmates; he was imprisoned there between 1895 and 1897 for “gross indecency” after the discovery of his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas. The building has since been described as an LGBT heritage site. During his stay, Wilde wrote the famous poem Reading Gaol Ballad.
Oscar Wilde is the patron saint of crushing two contrasting ideas to create magic, ”Banksy said in a statement released by theBBC. “Converting the place that destroyed it into a refuge for art is so perfect that we have to do it. A representative for Banksy did not immediately offer further comment to Artnet News.
The stencil Banksy used to make the mural, Create an escape, is currently visible atGrayson Perrys Art Club exhibitionat the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.
We warmly welcome Banksys’ attention to Reading Gaol both at the Department of Justice [Ministry of Justice] sale of the vacant prison and on the council’s ambition to turn it into an arts, heritage and culture hub, Jason Brock, head of the Reading Borough Council, told Artnet News.
The board has so far had only informal approaches from Banksy’s representatives, but no detailed discussions.
Reading Prison has been vacant since December 2013, when it was closed by the Justice Department. The site was put on the market but several offers fell. In March, the Reading Borough Council applied for $ 2.6 million ($ 3.4 million) offer, but the ministry rejectedit’s too low.
The board has not officially withdrawn its offer, but it remains to be seen if Banksy’s efforts can help revive it.
Our candidacy remains firmly on the table and enjoys broad support both within the community here in Reading and the arts, heritage and culture community at large, said Brock. The plan was backed by a number of famous artists, including Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh, Kate Winslet and Natalie Dormer.
It was reported in November that anonymous donors could potentially make a multi-million dollar bid to complete the council’s offer to acquire the site, Reading East MP Matt Rodda noted in a letter to Justice Minister Dominic Raab. RoddarevealedSunday that he had been in talks with Banksy “for a few months”.
The Justice Department remains suspicious of how Banksy’s offer might affect the offer. The deadline for the offers has passed and we are currently reviewing the ones we have received, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice’s prison services told Artnet News.
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