
Ask HN: Some questions about Banksy's self destructing painting - jakemor
In regards to this video posted by Banksy (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;iiO_1XRnMt4), and this thread on reddit (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;instant_regret&#x2F;comments&#x2F;9lxtch&#x2F;what_really_happened_with_the_banksy_art_piece&#x2F;)<p>1) In Banksy&#x27;s video they claim they put the shredder in a few years ago – how could a battery last that long?<p>Theories:<p>a) (reddit) the painting is plugged in to an electrical outlet to power on board lights. This cannot be true because the painting is easily removed at 51s, and the light is a spotlight, not built in.<p>b) there are two power supplies, one long lasting battery powering the receiver and a more powerful one powering the motors. When the receiver detects a signal it could turn on the other system to shred the painting. I have a hard time believing a sim module &#x2F; wifi card could be powered for that long, so I&#x27;m assuming its some other sort of low power receiver. We also know a person in on the whole thing was there as the timing had to be perfect. I guess this is technically feasible.<p>2) The blades seem to be pointed in the wrong direction (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;iiO_1XRnMt4?t=5)<p>Theories:<p>None that I can think of or know of!<p>Any thoughts??
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Jaruzel
Hackaday has some theories:

[https://hackaday.com/2018/10/07/banksys-barely-believable-
ba...](https://hackaday.com/2018/10/07/banksys-barely-believable-batteries/)

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Digory
No reason to think the making of video isn't art, too. And there's almost no
way soetheby wasn't in on the deal.

Until we have confirmation from a real third party, it's hard to say what
really happened at all. The "shredder" might just roll up the original in the
bottom of the frame and eject a separate bit of "shredded" paper. That would
require far less power.

