If we speak of Israel Beer Josaphat, it is likely that this name will not mean anything to us, but if we refer to Paul Julius Reuter – his other identity – the surname will resonate with us. Indeed, the German Jew Reuter was the founder of the news agency that bears his name and which today is one of the most important in the world. The son of a local rabbi from Kassel, before he was thirty he converted to Christianity and married the daughter of a Berlin banker. Prior to all this, he had already had his first banking experience when the family sent him to Göttingen to work in a financial institution owned by his uncle. The bank job did not satisfy him much, but, at least, his presence in Lower Saxony would serve him to meet a fascinating character like Carl Friedrich Gauss, known as the Prince of Mathematics, but also a physicist and experimenter in the transmission of electrical impulses. For the moment, this last field was only a curiosity, but the seed had been sown.

The work of Banksy It never fails to provoke a reaction. The artist (or artists) behind that name creates stencil paintings brimming with social and political commentary, all from a position of anonymity. Their interventions appear on walls, streets, squares, and public spaces worldwide, and each work sparks social debate. Their career has taken them to Paris, New York, Bethlehem, London, and Bristol, the British city where they have left some of their most recognizable murals in the early hours of the morning. The themes are diverse: from critiques of war and social inequality to ironic graffiti about consumer society and politics.