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Belgium impounds touring Banksy works over insurance fears
Belgian authorities have impounded millions of euros worth of works by street artist Banksy after an exhibitor in Brussels realized they may not be insured.
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A visitor watches Banksy's 2003 screenprint 'Turf War' during a press preview of an exhibition of British street artist Banksy 'The Art of Banksy' at the MUDEC, the Museum of Cultures in Milan on November 20, 2018. (AFP/Miguel Medina)
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elgian authorities have impounded millions of euros worth of works by street artist Banksy after an exhibitor in Brussels realized they may not be insured, a lawyer said Friday.
The exhibitor, Strokar, informed the authorities that the 58 paintings, photos and silkscreens may not be covered if any were damaged or stolen, Strokar's lawyer Stanislas Eskenazi said.
"My client is a small non-profit which only provided an exhibition space. It wanted to protect itself against an enormous risk," Eskenazi told AFP, confirming Belgian media reports.
Contacted by Strokar, an administrative court in Brussels this week appointed a bailiff who put the works under lock and key on Thursday, he added.
Steve Lazarides, a former Banksy agent who broke with the British street artist in 2009, assembled the works, which are valued at 15 million euros ($17 million) and belong mainly to private collectors.
The exhibition "Banksy Unauthorised" was organized without the involvement of the mysterious pseudonymous artist, whose identity is known to only a few friends.
Acting as an intermediary, German-based firm "On Entertainment" invited Strokar to exhibit the works in the Belgian capital, Eskenazi said.
Read also: Banksy the rebel on show in Milan
The firm said it had the rights and permits to show the works but it is not clear under what conditions those rights were granted or whether the works are insured, the lawyer added.
The Belgian court must now settle the matter in the next few months in a case pitting Lazarides and his firm Lazinc against On Entertainment.
Eskenazi said the German firm declined to show Strokar the insurance contracts for the works when it asked for them after the exhibition on street art began earlier this month.
"They said: 'it's our problem, not yours'," the lawyer said.
In handing down its ruling, the court said the works "appear to be very exposed without the agreement of those with the legal rights over them," L'Echo newspaper reported.
"There are reasons to fear for their safety, in a way that it appears necessary to secure them as quickly as possible," it added.
