Dismaland

[Borachio]

Link to video.

The chatter about Banksy's new 'theme park' has been mixed, with many finding the whole spectacle macabre.

Talk of a Jimmy Savile-themed Punch and Judy and a fire-ravaged Disney-style castle have revealed, though, that it's not going to be your ordinary family excursion.

In fact, Dismaland is said to be a play on Disneyland, with the logo of the 'Bemusement Park' a dim, grainy version of the Disney branding, promising the exact opposite of the Magic Kingdom - offering scares instead of sweetness from this Saturday, or Friday for locals.

Banksy, the graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter, has seen his influence range far across the world from his home in Bristol.

His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combining dark humour with graffiti have brought him notoriety, but his brand is now colossal, and Dismaland in Weston-super-Mare is set to offer a whole new dimension.

What is Dismaland?

A sinister version of a Disney theme park based in a huge derelict outdoor swimming pool on a beach in Weston-super-Mare.

It has transformed the Somerset resort's derelict Tropicana Lido which was built in 1937 and became Europe's biggest outdoor swimming pool before it closed in 2000.

The exhibition features ten installations and is being set up in Weston-Super-Mare which attracts 20,000 visitors a day in August.

A fire-ravaged Disney-style castle will be the star attraction, with a Punch and Judy-style exhibition by Julie Burchill with references to Jimmy Savile and Fifty Shades Of Grey.

Other creations include a Jeffrey Archer Memorial Fire Pit and a massive sandcastle topped by a multi-coloured windmill and a prancing horse made from steel poles.

The exhibition - which also boasts palm trees - has been shrouded in mystery in typical Banksy fashion.

The Dismaland website says: "Dismal Land – a festival of art, amusements and entry-level anarchism.

"The following are strictly prohibited in the park – spray paint, marker pens, knives and legal representatives of the Walt Disney Corporation."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/banksys-dismaland-how-tickets-everything-6285232

So what do you think?

Is this hilarious, a thought-provoking dig at contemporary culture, an affront to the dignity of humanity, or a poorly thought-out attempt to murder the innocence of childhood?

 

[Kyriakos]

I already live in Dismaland

Angelo Merkel says so too

 

[Samson]

So what do you think?

Is this hilarious, a thought-provoking dig at contemporary culture, an affront to the dignity of humanity, or a poorly thought-out attempt to murder the innocence of childhood?

I so have to go, then I can tell you. I think it looks great.

 

[Winston Hughes]

Sounds like a nice little money spinner for a bunch of past-it artists, and a fun day out for the chin-stroking, morally-vacuous pseuds who represent their audience. (Hey, if you're going to be this cynical, you've got to expect to see it turned right back at you.)

 

[Borachio]

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/08/dismaland/

Apparently, the "staff" are remarkably unhelpful, surly, and given to swearing a lot. What an invigorating breath of fresh air!

And only £3 to get in. Unless you're a corporate lawyer for Disneyland.

 

[Da Rock]

Sounds like a nice little money spinner for a bunch of past-it artists, and a fun day out for the chin-stroking, morally-vacuous pseuds who represent their audience. (Hey, if you're going to be this cynical, you've got to expect to see it turned right back at you.)

I was going to say that it was a hipster heaven for those who wanted to "be ironic" - but you put it so much better!

 

[Kyriakos]

Dismaland must be moved inside Tate Modern. Or a replica built outside Tate Modern, next to the Spider statue.

 

[shadowplay]

Apparently, the "staff" are remarkably unhelpful, surly, and given to swearing a lot. What an invigorating breath of fresh air!

Hey, Surly only looks out for one guy ... Surly!

 

[Ironsided]

Personally I really really like it and it's provoking those who need it the most. I'm a huge Banksy fan anyways.

 

[Winston Hughes]

It's a neat way for a bunch of artists to get their work out to new audiences, but as a concept piece in itself, it falls onto sticky ground. The point of theme parks is to provide a dose of surreal fun - escaping from reality into a world created with the express intention of showing you a good time. If you make a theme park with the express intention of it being horribly depressing, it seems you're really just making a theme park for people to enjoy themselves by feeling morally superior for not enjoying themselves.

 

[Ironsided]

It's not a theme park. It's an installation.

Edit: Aimed at those feeling morally superior. As it were.

 

[Borachio]

It's a neat way for a bunch of artists to get their work out to new audiences, but as a concept piece in itself, it falls onto sticky ground. The point of theme parks is to provide a dose of surreal fun - escaping from reality into a world created with the express intention of showing you a good time. If you make a theme park with the express intention of it being horribly depressing, it seems you're really just making a theme park for people to enjoy themselves by feeling morally superior for not enjoying themselves.

To me it's a breath of fresh air.

The Disneylands of this world are what I find depressing. I don't go to them, naturally. Just the thought of them makes me sad.

And, yes, I realize that to some I'll appear a sad person. But I feel the responsibility rests well and truly with Walt (rip).

Moral superiority doesn't enter into it, imo. It's a visceral feeling entirely.

 

[aelf]

It's a neat way for a bunch of artists to get their work out to new audiences, but as a concept piece in itself, it falls onto sticky ground. The point of theme parks is to provide a dose of surreal fun - escaping from reality into a world created with the express intention of showing you a good time. If you make a theme park with the express intention of it being horribly depressing, it seems you're really just making a theme park for people to enjoy themselves by feeling morally superior for not enjoying themselves.

Maybe people go there to have a laugh? It might be funny to some. Or maybe you could start by asking why people watch tragedies or consume other depressing forms of entertainment.

I'm not sure who's the cynical one.

 

[Winston Hughes]

For all the pretensions to social commentary - and you'll get a more profound dose of that by reading an issue of Viz* - everyone knows what stuff like this is really about: making fun of the low-brow forms of entertainment enjoyed by the masses. And, you know, there's nothing particularly wrong with that in itself; laughing at other people's tastes is a pretty much ubiquitous form of humour. It's when it's dressed up as somehow virtuous or important that it starts to disappear up its own backside. I've normally got a lot of time for Banksy's work, but this just comes off a bit smug and, ironically, pompous (not ironically pompous, which would actually have been far more amusing).

*It's been doing this kind of thing on paper for forty years, and has the great advantage that it takes the piss out of everyone, especially its own readers and creators.

 

[Formaldehyde]

It is Disneyland for the rest of us.

I wonder if he would consider setting it up permanently in Orlando...

 

[aelf]

For all the pretensions to social commentary - and you'll get a more profound dose of that by reading an issue of Viz* - everyone knows what stuff like this is really about: making fun of the low-brow forms of entertainment enjoyed by the masses. And, you know, there's nothing particularly wrong with that in itself; laughing at other people's tastes is a pretty much ubiquitous form of humour. It's when it's dressed up as somehow virtuous or important that it starts to disappear up its own backside. I've normally got a lot of time for Banksy's work, but this just comes off a bit smug and, ironically, pompous (not ironically pompous, which would actually have been far more amusing).

*It's been doing this kind of thing on paper for forty years, and has the great advantage that it takes the piss out of everyone, especially its own readers and creators.

I'm not sure what's in the theme park that's not also in Banksy's work. But I'm not very well-acquainted with graffiti or stencil.

To me it seems like that part of the art world typically adheres more to the rule of cool than actually having a clear or coherent message anyway. It's like pop art, but more subversive and cynical, which is perfectly fine with me.

 

[Borachio]

Hundreds of people have queued for "on the door" tickets to a new Banksy show in Weston-super-Mare.

Thousands struggled to get online tickets to Dismaland, a dark theme park, which is open for five weeks at the seaside resort.

A "locals only" free ticket day was held on Friday, but the ticket website crashed when it received more than six million hits.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-34026536

Catering to a niche market, Dismaland isn't.

 

[Ironsided]

So did anyone go yet? I wish I could find it with little IKEA flags:

 

[BvBPL]

If you make a theme park with the express intention of it being horribly depressing, it seems you're really just making a theme park for people to enjoy themselves by feeling morally superior for not enjoying themselves.

In other words, Banksy's fans!

 

[Ironsided]

Can't I please be called a SJW. I like that even better.