A Day Out at Dismaland

If you get the chance to visit Dismaland, and if you're in the UK you should try, as it's better than you imagine, you'll discover a quirky thrill-ride through modern art and dissident pop-culture. Highly recommended if you like your entertainment on the dark satirical side.

Watch out for the militant-political 'selling' that goes on in some exhibits though. Along with the superior new art, there is controversy and thought provoking examinations of what we consider to be 'normality'... Major Spoilers Ahead... if you plan to go, I'd say stop right here!

A walking tour of the old swimming pool reveals the bathing tiles still in place... and children's dilapidated rides have a splash of new paint too.

A photo op with the Boys from the Black Stuff if you're that way inclined

Got Money!

One exhibit satirizes our gullibility for being fleeced, then you enter another where a bunch of students start asking you to buy books, posters and magazines about various political causes

We're all just big kids really, aren't we?

Enjoy the view?

It looks dirty and glum, but strangely the Dismaland 'phenomenon' leaves you feeling uplifted!

The old Club Tropicana sea-view wall hasn't changed much, except there's a massive wooden bench in the shape of a... toilet roll!

Castles in the sand weren't built to last...

Disney is rolling in his grave... major copyright infringement filing in the works right now I'm guessing. The video of  a  Disney Princess on screen? Saying you 'bought it from Ebay' will just not cut it.

Got that Charlie?

You can't get too close to the migrants because strangely there is a barrier.

My picture of the David Cameron exhibit was too blurred, perhaps a good thing after all!

I don't know, do you really want to?

A Damien Hirst

A Banksy

The beginning of 'The Police State'

Shouting at us to move along, "Nothing to see here!"

Apparently there was pizza on sale, as well as the beer and cider. I didn't want to risk it!

The Jeffrey Archer fire-pit - they're burning something called books

Have a nice life!

N.B. Will add updates, names/credits to this post and pics a.s.a.p.  ...Need to sleep now...  If you go to Dismaland, remember to wear good shoes, you'll need them!

Credits for the artists: 

Andreas Hykade (Bavaria)

Amir Schiby (Israel)
Axel Void (USA)
Banksy (UK)
Barry Reigate (UK)
Ben Long (UK)
Bill Barminski (USA)
Block9 (UK)
Brock Davis (USA)
Caitlin Cherry (USA)
Caroline McCarthy (UK)
Damien Hirst (UK)
Darren Cullen (UK)
David Shrigley (UK)
Dorcas Casey (UK)
Dietrich Wegner (USA)
Ed Hall (UK)
El Teneen (Egypt)
Escif (Spain)
Espo (USA)
Fares Cachoux (Syria)
Greg Haberny (USA)
Huda Beydoun (Saudi Arabia)
James Joyce (UK)
Jani Leinonen (Finland)
Jeff Gillette (USA)
Jenny Holzer (USA)
Jessica Harrison (UK)
Jimmy Cauty (UK)
Joanna Pollonais (Canada)
Josh Keyes (USA)
Julie Burchill (UK)
Kate MacDowell (USA)
Laura Lancaster (UK)
Lee Madgwick (UK)
Leigh Mulley (UK)
Lush (Australia)
Mana Neyestani (Iran)
Maskull Laserre (Canada)
Michael Beitz (USA)
Mike Ross (USA)
Neta Harari Navon (Israel)
Nettie Wakefield (UK)
Paco Pomet (Spain)
Paul Insect & BAST (UK/USA)
Peter Kennard & Cat Phillips(UK)
Polly Morgan (UK)
Pure Evil (UK)
Ronit Baranga (Israel)
Sami Musa (Palestine)
Scott Hove (USA)
Severija Inčirauskaitė-Kriaunevičienė (Lithuania)
Shadi Alzaqzouq (Palestine)
Suliman Mansour (Palestine)
Tammam Azzam (Syria)
The Astronauts’ Caravan (UK)
Tinsel Edwards (UK)
Wasted Rita (Portugal)
Zaria Forman (USA)

'Dismaland' - Dazed and Bemused - The New Banksy Exhibition is more than meets the eye.

If ever there was a town gripped, to the point of crippled, with celebrity fever, it's Weston super Mare today. This afternoon, the word on everyone’s lips is ‘Banksy’. You can’t venture out, go anywhere in the town, without hearing someone mention the elusive satirical street artist’s name.

For the past few days, locals have been given tantalizing clues that ‘something’ was about to be revealed on the seafront, mainly in the guise of an entertainment ‘event’. It was at first rumoured to be some kind of Hollywood film set. Little did anyone anticipate that the big reveal would literally become a mega phenomenon.

The international arts sensation that is ‘Banksy’ is headlining all the local news media, and some mainstream international outlets, with the likes of CNN and ABC News, plus Variety, and The Huffington Post getting in on the act.

UPDATE: Approximate queuing time for Dismaland... Five hours!

The 100,000 tweets in 24 hours had the words 'Weston-super-Mare’swirled around the internet… this had never happened to my little home town before. Not bad for a traditional sea-side venue, that’s a holiday for day-trippers, and a retirement destination, but usually catering mostly for those on a low income.

This is the crux of why the town plays host to such a prestigious contemporary art exhibition at all. Banksy chose the dilapidated old swimming pool (lido) on the seafront, now mostly filled with seagull droppings and empty bags of chips, precisely because it reminded him of his childhood. The renowned Bristolian, spent many summers splashing around the pool, according to his own recollection...

Banksy said: “I loved the Tropicana as a kid, so getting to throw these doors open again is a real honour.

“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.”

The Old Tropicana

Bring on the controversy!

The once glorious summer holiday venue, now reduced to a concrete shell, with the faded shadow of its sign ‘Tropicana’ staining the facade above the entrance, has repeat visitors reminiscing about ‘the good old days of Weston’. Perfect to host a pastiche of the new world, a homage to what has now come to pass, with works by 58 handpicked artists including Damien Hirst. Installed across the 2.5-acre site, it's a large-scale group show lampooning Disneyland, but with its very own message to the masses.

‘Dismaland’ is born. “The UK’s most disappointing new visitor attraction”.

The website explains little…

Dismal Land – a festival of art, amusements and entry-level anarchism.

Are you looking for an alternative to the sugar-coated tedium of the average family day out? Or just somewhere a lot cheaper?
Then this is the place for you. Bring the whole family to come and enjoy the latest addition to our chronic leisure surplus…

Even the online ticketing system played into the premise of a dismal experience. Today it's announced that you can't buy a ticket online anyway... site crashes engineered to enhance the experience!

Queuing had already begun overnight, so the chance of getting into this contemporary art exhibition is pretty slim.

My local paper prints the World Exclusive!

Jack Black loves Weston too!

As close as I got to Dismaland yesterday!

You really don't need to venture into the town, and queue for hours, before discovering other brilliant satirical works of street art. Weston has its very own Banksy in the guise of JPS Artist. I've already posted some of his works that I've discovered around while returning to my old haunts.... such as...

If I do happen to get into the venue, I will post more... apparently there is controversy, thought-provoking masterpieces of pop-art, and sick satirical jibes, strictly not suitable for children!

But it IS...only... a Trick of the Light?

So, what is really going on in the world lately? Can you see? Can you guess? Can you see through the glare of the press? A 'Gladio' style operation on our door step?

Remember, it's the height of the summer, but we must not venture off to a hot Mediterranean holiday, nor to a city centre hot spot. For you never know what dark deeds are afoot. You can only guess who might be lurking behind the shadows of the umbrella.

The powers-that-be, currently engaged in the Brussels ‘Let's Destroy Democracy' war games, would have us all believe that, if we trust our government, we will be protected.

This doesn’t mean that we shirk our responsibilities. We must keep ourselves informed and alert to the dangers. Remember, it only takes a lone student gunman terrorist, wandering around a holiday resort killing tourists at random, to erect a memorial in Hyde Park these days, and we don’t need any more of those now do we?

 

Diving is good

Of course, the suspension of disbelief is a must, and should be adhered to, as much as is possible. For example, family of twelve, including an 11 month old baby, and Cancer ridden great-grandmother, have decided to end their holiday to Bangladesh by joining Isis in Syria. You must believe it, especially when it’s been on the BBC, Channel 4 and SKY News.

When these mass-media reporting straight from Gaza tell you that Hamas says it doesn’t believe, support, or condone Isis, you have to wonder why? For years Syria and Assad were a target for the West, due mainly to the fact that the former was a strong-hold and supporter of Hamas. Now it’s home to Isis? How does this make any sense?

 

A Speargun for enthusiasts

Kind of like the British press, when they report on lone-gunmen, then go on and tell us this…

Daily Express, Tuesday, June 30^th – Anil Dawar

I saw second gunman on beach says Briton.

A RETIRED British police officer caught up in the Tunisian massacre yesterday told how he saw a second gunman open fire on tourists.

Steve Johnson who was on the beach when Seifeddine Rezgui went on his rampage, described seeing a man in red shorts also armed with an automatic rifle shooting sunbathers. His sighting contradicted official accounts suggesting that Rezgui, dressed in black, was operating as a 'lone wolf' attacker.

Mr Johnson, 65, an ex-Leicester Rugby Club captain and England B player, now a BBC commentator, was on holiday with his wife Val 64, and another retired policeman Michael Perry, 66, and his wife angela, 59.

He said: 'We were on the beach when I heard gunshots and I just told people to run - run and got off the beach as fast as I could. I looked back and I saw a man in red shorts machine-gunning someone on a sun lounger. He can't have been more than 20 yards away from us'.

When a Tunisian policeman later escorted them back to the hotel they passed a body covered with a sheet in a corridor. 'I could see he was the right build and colouring of the shooter I had seen.' he said, 'and he had the red shorts on.'

'When we got the news we saw that it was being reported that there was just a single shooter. But the second shooter is still not being reported and I don't know why'.

The former policeman praised local officers. He said, 'They did the lock-down very quickly I don't think anywhere in the UK, except maybe in London, could have done it quicker!'