Dismaland is the name of an art project by street artist Banksy being constructed in the seaside resort town of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, England. The secret pop-up exhibition at the Tropicana, a disused lido, is "a sinister twist on Disneyland" that opened the weekend of 21 August 2015.[2] Banksy has described it as a "family theme park unsuitable for children". Banksy created 10 new works and has paid for everything himself. The show will run until 27 September 2015, for 36 days, with 4,000 tickets a day. Local residents had been told that a Hollywood company was using the location for filming, as a sign with "Grey Fox Productions" was posted at the site. Pictures of its construction began surfacing online in early August 2015, and included a fairy castle and massive sculptures. Among the structures photographed were a large pinwheel, a metal galloping horse and a twisted truck sculpture, "Big Rig Jig" by artist Mike Ross which was previously shown at Burning Man in 2007. Damien Hirst's work will also be featured in the park. Holly Cushing, listed on the credits of a documentary about Banksy and often reported to be his manager, was seen at the construction site.
Banksy Spoofs Disney with 'Dismaland' Theme Park - England - Britain's newest theme park, "Dismaland," opens on Friday, with a decrepit castle, a merry-go-round horse set to be cooked and model boats on a pool full of refugees, all courtesy of British street artist Banksy. The "Bemusement Park" in Weston-super-Mare, an English seaside town near Banksy's home city of Bristol, is tagged as "The UK's most disappointing new visitor attraction!" and features work by other artists including Damien Hirst.
The secretive Banksy, famed for his ironic murals in unexpected places, said the show was something different, as his street art had become "just as reassuringly white, middle class and lacking in women as any other art movement." Visitors to the event, put on in a disused swimming pool, can have a souvenir photo taken in Cinderella's Castle against a backdrop of a dead princess in a coach crash, while surly stewards carry bunches of balloons labelled "I'm an imbecile."
Banksy, whose identity has never been revealed, described it as "a festival of art, amusements and entry-level anarchism." "It's not a swipe at Disney," he said in a press release. "I banned any imagery of Mickey Mouse from the site. It's a showcase for the best line-up of artists I could imagine, apart from the two who turned me down." The site, whose signage bares more than a passing resemblance to Disneyland, is full of the artist's subversive statements and epigrams on Western culture, the media, capitalism and extreme disparities of wealth.
