You have to appreciate the paradox of Banksy: A commercially successful anti-capitalist. A vandal who adds value. It’s the sort of amusing contradiction that appears often in the artist’s own work.

A case in point: In 2009 Banksy made a wall painting on an industrial estate outside Croydon, South London, depicting a spike-headed punk rocker puzzling over a set of instructions. Next to him is a box labeled “LARGE GRAFFITI SLOGAN,” with a jumbled cargo of words–”SYSTEM,” “SMASH,” “POLICE”–spilling out, waiting to be assembled. The logo on the box is also disassembled, but easily recognizable: IKEA.

The guerrilla artist had barely finished his mural when a pair of guerrilla businessmen swooped in, subverting the subversive message. It’s an interesting story, nicely told in this nine-minute film produced for Channel 4 by Martyn Gregory, shot and edited by Paul Bernays and narrated by Nick Glass.

The Always Bankable Banksy is a post from: Open Culture

Joseph Stiglitz teaches at the Columbia Business School and Columbia’s Department of Economics and, of course, won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001.

The money quote from his appearance had less to do with economics per se and more with democracy: “We have too many regulations stopping democracy, and not enough regulations stopping Wall Street from misbehaving.” No bullhorns, are you serious?

You probably know Lawrence Lessig because of his work founding Creative Commons and promoting “Free Culture.” (Watch his final speech on Free Culture here.) Several years ago, Lessig moved from Stanford to Harvard, where he took up a new focus — government corruption. That’s what he grapples with in his new book, Republic, Lost and this related video. Given Lessig’s focus on how corporate money corrupts our political system, it’s not surprising that he would have something to say about the potential of the Wall Street protests.

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Slavoj Zizek Takes the Stage at Occupy Wall Street

Joseph Stiglitz and Lawrence Lessig at Occupy Wall Street is a post from: Open Culture

Doc Zone, a documentary series produced by CBC Television, is now airing, Meltdown, a four part investigation into the great financial debacle of 2008. Along the way, the CBC’s Terence McKenna takes viewers “behind the headlines and into the backrooms at the highest levels of world governments and banking institutions, revealing the astonishing level of backstabbing and tension behind the scenes as the world came dangerously close to another Great Depression.”

Above, we have posted the first episode called “The Men Who Crashed the World.” The remaining programs can be watched by clicking here and scrolling down the page. Or by heading to Al Jazeera’s English site, which also hosts the four-part series. Thanks to William for sending along this film. It’s now added to the Documentary section of our collection of Free Movies Online.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook, and we’ll keep pointing you to free cultural goodies daily…

Meltdown: The Secret History of the Global Financial Collapse is a post from: Open Culture

In March 2000, Yale economist Robert Shiller published Irrational Exuberance, a book that warned that the long-running bull market was a bubble. Weeks later, the market cracked and Shiller was the new guru. Fast forward a few years, and Shiller released a second edition of the same book, this time arguing that the housing market was the latest and greatest bubble. We all know how that prediction played out.

Unlike most of the financial industry, Shiller isn’t locked into a perennially bullish view, bent on pumping the market despite what the real numbers suggest. And that should give students, whether young or old, some confidence in his free course simply called “Financial Markets.” Available on the web in multiple formats (YouTube – iTunes Audio – iTunes Video - Yale Web Site), the 26 lecture-course covers the inner-workings of financial institutions that ideally “support people in their productive ventures” and help them manage economic risks. You can start with Lecture 1 here. Above, we present his introductory lecture on Stocks.

Finally (and separately) you can get Shiller’s thoughts on how to handle America’s big debt mess here. It was recorded in recent days.

Shiller’s course appears in the Economics section of our big collection of Free Online Courses. 385 courses in total. Don’t miss them.

Financial Markets Course with Yale Sage Robert Shiller is a post from: Open Culture

Al Jazeera forced many Westerns viewers to take their reporting seriously during the Egyptian uprising this spring, and now the Qatar-based news network has released a timely reportage (Aug. 2) on the fault lines in America — on the gap between rich and poor that only grew wider this week. Alexis de Tocqueville they’re not. There’s no subtle sociology here. But, at the same time, I suspect that this foreign perspective on the U.S. won’t appear unfamiliar to many Americans. The program runs 24 minutes, and other shows in the Fault Lines series can be viewed on YouTube here. H/T @courosa

Al Jazeera: The Top 1% in America is a post from: Open Culture

No light, no civilization. It’s pretty much that simple. And it’s this simple idea that m ss ng p eces, a Brooklyn-based creative company, explores ever so artfully in The Story of Light. Here’s how they introduce the video:

We have used light for survival, to learn by, to entertain and express ourselves, mold experiences, and illuminate our imaginations. Inspired by such a singular story we set out to create a handmade storybook fantasy illustrating milestones in the history of light. Each chapter invites us through the annals of history, leading to present day where a new set of possibilities are yet to be realized in the light of tomorrow.

When you reach the end of the video, you’ll realize that the clip also doubles as a commercial for GE’s new led light bulb. Lending an air of coolness to a dowdy conglomerate (GE)  is no easy feat. But it’s probably not so tough when you’ve already made GE Capital, a huge recipient of 2008 bailout money, look ever so hip. GE Capital + Taylor Guitars = I think I will buy a Martin, thank you very much.

You can learn more about the making of The Story of Light with this video …

via PSFK

A Brief History of Light is a post from: Open Culture

Last month, China hit another major milestone. It passed Japan and became the second largest economy in the world, leaving only the US in its way. Give China a decade, maybe a little more, and it will inevitably surge into the lead. That’s the accepted narrative.

But then we come across this: the possibility that a mounting real estate bubble might derail China’s plans. This report from Australian public television gives you a disturbing look at how the Chinese government has pumped vast amounts of capital into fixed assets, like commercial and residential real estate, to keep the country’s economy growing. And what they’re left with is what James Chanos (a hedge fund manager) has famously described as “Dubai times one thousand.” Right now, there are an estimated 64 million empty apartments in China, and approximately 30 billion square feet of commercial real estate under construction — equivalent to a five-by-five foot office cubicle for every man, woman and child in China. It’s one thing to read these facts, another thing to see what it all looks like. And that’s the opportunity you get above.

For a more precise roadmap of what a Chinese crash might look like, you should spend some time with this piece in Canadian Business magazine.

Bubble Watch: Is China Next? is a post from: Open Culture

In the late 1990s, Errol Morris, the acclaimed director, was hired to make a film for an “in house” conference of IBM employees. Eventually IBM canceled the conference, and the film was scrapped. (Watch a clip of it here.) Now more than a decade later, IBM has brought Morris back, this time to direct a film meant to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the company’s founding. The 30-minute film, They Were There, appears on IBM’s YouTube Channel, and it notably features music by Philip Glass. As you will perhaps recall, Morris and Glass previously teamed up on the 2003 Oscar-winning documentary, The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara. (Watch it online here). Both films are listed in our collection of Free Movies Online.

via Brain Pickings

“They Were There” — Errol Morris Finally Directs a Film for IBM is a post from: Open Culture

There’s high drama in the classroom at the University of Central Florida. Richard Quinn, a longtime business instructor, gives 600 students their mid-term exam. Then comes the anonymous tip that cheating is rampant. Forensic analysis bears that out. Ultimatums are made. Moral lessons drawn. Soon the confessions – all 200 of them – follow. A rough day for all involved.

Postscript: We poked around a bit more and read the student newspaper at UCF. It’s possible that the cheating ring may be less devious than it first appears, but it’s still not entirely clear.

via Kottke.org

The Big Cheat is a post from: Open Culture

The Economist Presents the Global Online MBA Forum is a post from: Open Culture