Dismaland

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Parody of the Sleeping Beauty castles in Disneylands with a distorted Ariel, the mermaid in the foreground

Dismaland was an art project by street artist Banksy in the resort of Weston-super-Mare in Somerset , England. The exhibition in the former Tropicana water park , which was kept secret for a long time before the opening, was a parody of the famous Disneyland amusement park . In English, “Dismal” means “oppressive, bleak, gloomy”. The exhibition opened on August 21, 2015. Banksy himself described the exhibition as a "family amusement park unsuitable for children."

Banksy himself created ten works for the exhibition and financed the entire project himself. In addition, works by more than 50 artists were shown. The exhibition ran for a total of 36 days until September 27, 2015. 4000 tickets should be sold per day. Every Friday there should also be music acts such as Run the Jewels , Pussy Riot and Massive Attack .

The structure of the exhibition was disguised as a film production, which worked until Holly Cushing , who was the artist's manager , was seen on site several times.

Works

Butcher in the horse carousel

The works on show included the Big Rig Jig truck construction by artist Mike Ross, which was shown at the Burning Man Festival in 2007. In total there were works by 58 artists, including Jenny Holzer , Damien Hirst , the British art activists Peter Kennard, Jimmy Cauty and Darren Cullen, as well as u. a. the Spanish street artist ESCIF, known for his humorous paintings. Banksy himself said he picked the best artists he could imagine. Only two artists had canceled.

reception

The high demand for tickets caused long waiting times for the exhibition website. It has been speculated that this was part of the exhibition arranged by Banksy.

The exhibition attracted a lot of public attention from the very first few days. Numerous media from German-speaking countries also reported on the opening of the exhibition.

As the refugee crisis was also the subject of the exhibition, Banksy donated material from it to the refugee camp in Calais .

Web links

Commons : Dismaland  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Steven Morris: Banksy fans flock to Weston-super-Mare after Dismaland show rumors . In: The Guardian . August 18, 2015. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  2. ↑ Katharine Schwab: Welcome to Dismaland ( English ) In: The Atlantic.com . August 20, 2015. Accessed August 23, 2015.
  3. ↑ Banksy using film set as a cover for secret new Dismaland exhibition ( English ) In: itv.com . August 17, 2015. Accessed August 23, 2015.
  4. ↑ Esther Widmann: Banksy asks you to go to “Dismaland”. In: Sueddeutsche.de. August 20, 2015, accessed August 23, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Banksy exhibition: Welcome to “Dismaland”. In: Spiegel.de. August 20, 2015, accessed August 23, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Banksy's response to the refugee crisis. In: Channel 4 News, via Facebook.com. Channel 4, January 27, 2016, accessed January 29, 2016 .


Coordinates: 51 ° 20 ′ 27.2 "  N , 2 ° 58 ′ 58.1"  W.