“This Is a Robbery – as his new work might so easily be titled – really does make it as performance art.”

 Many of the most fascinating and memorable exploits in this field balance precariously on the border between reality and absurdity. I would include among those classics not only Burden’s delirious deeds but the pranks of comic Andy Kaufman, who merged himself with his fictional personae in a provocative, uneasy way. Kaufman was friends with Laurie Anderson – so he knew all about performance art when he challenged women, apparently seriously, to “inter-gender wrestling” matches. No wonder some people think he faked his death as the ultimate performance artwork.

Gibbons must go to jail, but will he be showing his bank robbery film at the Whitney when he gets out? Will the notoriety boost his career? Do cops chase bank robbers?

As Rupert Pupkin said: “You can have anything you want, so long as you pay the price.”

Jonathan Jones, The Guardian