Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2011

Movie postponed until further notice.

LA-based Frenchman Thierry Guetta picked up a video camera one day and began to document the inherently impermanent street art movement. He traveled the world recording and frequently assisting the likes of Shepard Fairey, Space Invader and the legendary anonymous Brit known only as Banksy. He said he was making a movie, but it turns out he was merely an obsessive-compulsive cameraman and hadn’t the slightest idea how to put it all together. So Banksy (this film’s director) turned the camera around and advised Guetta to make some art of his own. Guetta ran with the idea of reinventing himself as an artist, and mounted a huge first show. This unoriginal, untalented “artist,” who had never sold a painting or even been reviewed, sold over 1 million worth of derivative junk. Now it gets interesting. There’s been speculation that this story is a hoax, a “prankumentary” (look at the title!). Wouldn’t put it past Banksy. But the thing is, it doesn’t matter if it’s real, a total hoax, or somewhere in between, because in addition to being a permanent record of a subversive artistic movement, Exit through the Gift Shop is also a fascinating observation/condemnation of the art world and speculative art collectors.