WELCOME TO DISMALAND
Subversive artist Banksy hits home
It sounds like the perfect family day-trip destination: a seaside theme park with Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and many other children’s favourites.
However, the latest attraction in the resort of Weston-super-Mare is not Disneyland but Dismaland — a dystopian vision of Banksy, the graffiti artist.
The script for Punch and Judy has been rewritten to include serial abuser Jimmy Savile, the Grim Reaper rides the dodgems, while the boating lake depicts drowning migrants.
Nearby, a Jeffrey Archer Memorial Pit is “an authentic, real open fire ceremonially lit each day by burning one of the famed local perjurer’s novels”.
Some exhibits are unlikely to please Disney’s lawyers: a dead or dying Cinderella hangs out of her upturned pumpkin carriage, a disfigured Little Mermaid perches in a dirty moat around a dilapidated fairy tale castle — and Mickey Mouse has been swallowed by a boa constrictor.
Even the Dismaland website includes this tongue-in-cheek instruction: “The following are strictly prohibited in the Park — spray paint, marker pens, knives and legal representatives of the Walt Disney Corporation.” But will Weston get the joke? For months, locals were led to believe that building work on the site of the Tropicana, a former lido, was for a Hollywood thriller called Grey Fox.
All became clear at yesterday’s grand unveiling.
Banksy described Dismaland as “a family theme park unsuitable for small children”, providing “a festival of art, amusements and entrylevel anarchism”. Deliberatelygrim staff proffer “I am an imbecile” balloons, below.
Banksy said: “I hope everyone from Weston will take the opportunity to once more stand in a puddle of murky water eating cold chips to the sound of crying children.”
His identity is closely guarded but he has links to the area: it has been claimed he is an ex-public schoolboy from Bristol.
Dismaland might not appear at first to be the greatest advert for Weston, but Nigel Ashton, leader of North Somerset council, is thrilled. A Banksy show in Bristol in 2009 is said to have put $20 million into the local economy, so Weston hopes for a boost too.
Mr Ashton said: “We have been working closely with the organizers. Only four people in the entire council knew what was really happening. It is absolutely brilliant. It’s also incredibly thought-provoking.”
Entry costs $6 and Dismaland is open until Sept 27. It has a gallery with 50 artists including Damien Hirst.
Carla Brennan, 18, a local retail worker, said: “It’s exciting because we don’t have that much arty stuff coming in.”