copperbadge:

geekgirl76
replied to your link “$1.3M Banksy Artwork “Self-Destructs” at Auction”

Ugh. How is that tool even still around? About that tea cup though… Why wouldn’t he drink from it? It’s a tea cup, made to drink tea out of. (like, it’s not an “art piece” that’s going to be hurt or ruined by tea in it) If I paid 36 million dollars for a tea cup I would sure as hell drink out of it, apologetically. The people complaining about that one need to cut loose and go USE their granny’s dishes or something.

Well…it’s from the 15th century, so not exactly granny’s dishes. There is the potential there for hot liquid, tannins in the tea, or his saliva to damage it; also washing all of those things off could damage it. It’s not likely, but the possibility is there. So like, there was some risk involved in sipping from the cup.

Now, all that being said, it’s still…a teacup. And it’s his teacup, much as I dislike the idea of cultural treasures being private property to do with as the owner pleases. (”Cultural treasure” is a messy discussion to have in itself.) So you know, why shouldn’t he do what he wants with it? 

He did it without really thinking about it, which adds a sort of graceless charm to it, really. But as a performance, drinking tea from a $36M antique teacup is a thought-provoking way to spark a discussion about how we value art and why, and why humanity places so much value on the passage of time as it applies to objects. 

And it has the advantage of, unlike most artworks designed to “provoke discussion”, not punching down on another human being. He just had a drink of goddamn tea.