Legendary subversive superhero street artist Banksy has taken his craft to new heights with the unveiling of Dismaland, a post-apocalyptic theme park giving a more reality-driven spin to various Disney attractions.
According to the park’s website, the 2.5 acre seafront site in Somerset, England will host a “festival of art, amusements, and entry level anarchism” to put a darker spin on 18 Disney-style fixtures, including an ISIS-themed crazy golf course, dystopian horrors at every turn, “selfie holes” and a building for “pocket-money loans,” and so much more.
Visual artists Damien Hirst, Jenny Holzer, and ex-KLF member Jimmy Cauty have aided in the production, but Banksy has taken the project to new heights by booking legitimately awesome lineup of musical guests, each with a subversive streak of their own. The dynamic duo Run the Jewels will be joined by trip-hop kings Massive Attack, Sleaford Mods, Savages, the badass Kate Tempest (who blew us away at Sasquatch this year), and DJ Yoda.
While the music is an incredible legitimizer beyond the satirical subversion of the project, the features themselves are remarkable in their apocalyptic innovation. Truly, would you rather sit on that shitty Small World ride for the 900th time at Disneyland, or play bumper cars with the Grim Reaper under disco lights while the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” pounds your ears?
But nothing could top the water-wonderland at Dismaland, featuring a water slide jutting from a gun-mounted riot control police van, which children can ride into a repulsive-looking moat filled with refugee-packed boats:
Take a panoramic look at the park below:
The Dismaland show will take over the Tropicana site at the British seaside town of Weston-super-Mare for six weeks, reigniting an old festival site once beloved to Banksy as a child.
The show is Banksy’s first large scale production in the UK since 2009’s Banksy v Bristol Museum show which drew huge crowds. Banksy described the show as a “family theme park unsuitable for children”.
Learn more at the official Dismaland site, but don’t hold your breath for any Super Bowl champion endorsements in the near future.
