Last week I visited Banksy Expo Argentina, an unauthorized exhibition of Banksy's work. Bringing street art into a museum is a funny thing. We can't say it's authentic. At least not nearly as authentic as the original graffiti, but it can evoke similar feelings in us and make us question things, which to me is one of the greatest values of art (original or not). For some, the experience in a museum might even be better. Although, in general, I would much rather visit the exact place where the original graffiti still stands. But I think I needed to have that experience in a museum first, where I came in contact with the art, learned more about it, and was now inspired to actually visit the original sites. When I saw what Banksy’s hotel in Palestine looks like, I was immediately intrigued and got the desire to visit it. So I can't really say that this or that's better or that the museum replaces the authentic experience. It can or even should coexist.
That art inspires travelers to visit a destination is nothing new and has been around for centuries. Van Gogh's paintings still inspire millions of people each year to visit Arles, Provence, where he was considered to be at his peak performance. When I Googled for it, I saw hundreds of tours, all with names similar to ‘‘In the Footsteps of Van Gogh’’ - so creative. But the strange thing is that people don't go there to see his original paintings - because there aren't any! The city doesn't own any of the paintings that Van Gogh created there - most of them are kept in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
So why do people still travel there? I will give my view, and perhaps some can identify with it. There is something about these places where artists have been inspired by the environment to create their work, whether it is a painting, music, a movie or a book, that makes me want to visit them. Maybe to better understand what inspired them. You can walk the same streets they walked and that inspired their works.
I guess Arles Tourism Board doesn’t need to invest much in marketing as in the US they’re already pouring millions of dollars into creating pop-up Van Gogh exhibitions. Although this is encouraging classic consumerism and not meaningful experiences, I hope that there will at least be some people that get inspired and actually visit the destination and go into deeper layers of Van Gogh’s life and work. To be inspired and drawn into such activities is the beauty of travel.
Perhaps the next time you're asked why you traveled to XYZ, there's nothing wrong with simply answering: to look for inspiration. My initial inspiration or reason for traveling to Argentina was actually to visit Patagonia, but along the way, I've been inspired by so many things I see and do here. The inspiration to write this Travel Journal also came no sooner than when I arrived in Buenos Aires. Who knows what else can happen?