Dismaland Entrance
2015
Installation
Dismaland, Banksy's largest project to date, opened its doors in 2015 within the walls of a derelict lido site called Tropicana in Weston Super Mare. The show was built as a bemusement park for a family day out, but instead of a sugar-coated fantasy land, it appeared as a distorting mirror - a Banksy-kind of fun fair, dark, ironic, sharp, and unsettling. For this huge project, the elusive artist invited 50 different artists from 17 countries and created "a fairground that embraces brutality and low-level criminality".
The fun starts in a security control room built from cardboard by Bill Barminksi. Ridiculing NSA rules and routines, you might be asked things like "Do you carry any squids or unicorns?" as well as be ordered to stand on one foot or spread your legs as wide as possible. After the checkup, the door opens, and you enter the place that is quite literally falling apart. With trash and mud all over the place, banners, flyers, and posters on the walls and uninterested, zombie-like members of staff hanging around useless and bored whispering random messages as they walk past.
The entire experience brings you as much joy as one can have facing injustices and mistakes done by mankind around the globe - welcome to the Dismaland Zone at "The Art of Banksy. Without Limits."