Hijacking Banksy:

using a contemporary art mystery to increase academic readership

Abstract

In this article I examine the methodological and ethical rigor of a geographic profiling study and resulting article, published in 2016 in Journal of Spatial Science, which identifies by name a candidate for being the artist known as Banksy. I demonstrate that the article is characterized by a number of methodological flaws which fundamentally undermine the researchers’ basis for determining Banksy’s identity. On this background I argue that the researchers’ decision to include a specific name in the article is ethically problematic and I suggest that the main purpose for the inclusion has likely been to attract attention to the study. I further propose that the sensationalist approach to increasing academic readership exemplified by the inclusion of a specific name in the article without solid empirical evidence to back it up may adversely affect researchers who continue to work within the field of street art studies.