Roll up folks and welcome to The Unhappiest Place on Earth. Acclaimed graffiti artist Banksy has unveiled an eye popping new show which he has described as a “family theme park unsuitable for small children” and today punters got a first view inside.
Residents near the British seafront resort of Weston-super-Mare had thought the top-secret make-over of a 2.5 acre site was for a film shoot for a Hollywood crime thriller called Grey Fox.
In fact the Tropicana, a former seafront bathing space, was being prepared for a new project by Banksy which he describes as "a festival of art, amusements and entry-level anarchism" loosely based on the Disneyland theme park.
Alongside works by Banksy, the show which will also feature work from Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer and Jimmy Cauty.
Irish artist Caroline McCarthy is also one of the artists chosen to have work displayed. Speaking to RTÉ she described the exhibition as a dystopic, dark, shabby environment and a "fairy tale gone wrong".
She said "It's asking people to actually think for themselves and to participate and be aware of their participation in the whole process. It's just a twist on how we might engage or consume the world as it's delivered to us normally."
The 'Bemusement' park comes complete with a fairytale castle, a boat pond full of asylum seekers, two ballet-performing juggernauts and an anarchist training camp running classes in how to break into bus billboards. There is also a Punch and Judy show which has been rewritten by Julie Burchill to give it a "Jimmy Saville spin". Lovely.
Despite the Disneyland inspiration, Banksy insists it is a deadly serious attempt to assemble the most cutting edge artists in the world right now.
He said: “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.” Check out the video and decide for yourself.
Today the park is open to locals and judging by Twitter there were long queues waiting to get inside.
About 2km queue for #Dismaland for locals day pic.twitter.com/xI3rZuQuIT
— LucyBeauvallet (@LucyBeauvallet) August 21, 2015
Still half an hour to go - and this isn't even the whole queue. Get yourself down here! #Banksy #Dismaland pic.twitter.com/Oy91HyHEL5
— Weston Mercury (@WSMERCURY) August 21, 2015
