Photo TR: Dismaland. Weston Super Mare, England

Went to Dismaland last week. Flew from Dubai Wednesday overnight got into London Heathrow at 10 in the morning. Swing by Thoroe Park for a quick ride frenzy in 2 hours. Then drove the 2.5 hours to Weston Suoer Mare. Checked in the B&B, dropped my bags and headed down for the evening session at Dismaland. The Park is open daily from 11-6 and from 7-11. All tickets are presold with a timed entry time of either 11,2,7 & 9. All tickets are sold through the Dismaland.co.uk website a week at a time and sell out within an hour. I had tickets for Thursday at 7 and Friday at 11 and 7.

 

The park is amazing. It truly is one of the best Theme Parks I have been to. I put it up there with Tokyo Disney Sea as far as bringing the theme to life. If you can get tickets and get to the park, go. It really is a once in a lifetime theme park experience. Banksy has curated an art exhibit that is a living theme park. The art is stunning and the overall message of the direction our planet is going in is powerful. It is very funny at times and at times sad and insightful. The castle walktthrough is not to be missed. They take a green screen photo as you enter and they sell the souvenir photo of you standing behind the paparazzi at the carriage accident of the princess. There she is dead with the birds trying to lift her up by her dress tie strings. The audio is of the papparazi cameras, emergency vehicles, and the birds tweeting. Very emotional thake on Pricess Diana's death. Of course I bought the souvenir photo.

 

Now onto the photos

EDIT:

Reposted photos in larger format starting 4 posts below. Original upload was from a file server in a smaller file format. Reading the FAQ it seemed like I needed to do that, but I guess I didn't.

Edited September 5, 2015 by notudon

Figured out that I don't need to use a file share service to post photos. I'll try this again.

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

Security won't let you in if you are smiling. They will detain you until you stop smiling. Surprisingly difficult to not smile.

Sold out everyday

The employees are the best part of Dismaland. They bring it to life with their apathy and attitudes.

No unicorns either

The help

Unfortunately you could not ride with him. It was a choreographed piece set to music

Grim reaper having fun

The crowds

Blue skies and fun awaits.

Everything at security is made of cardboard.

Amazing detail

Banksy repurposed porpoise.

Me In the queue

Edited September 8, 2015 by notudon

^ Much better. Seems like heaps loads more fun than any Six Flags park (excluding Fiesta) with employees that are WAY more lively!

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

Damian Hirst piece at the main hall.

The staff is so bored.

A highlight for me was the Jimmy Cauty Aftermath Displacement Principle diarama. The scale was overwhelming and the detail was phenomenal. Life after a city riot with only the police left.

A new Banksy piece

Always wondered how they made those carousel horses so lifelike

Palestinian artist who staged a protest at the show when he found out that an Israel artist who had been in the military had art included as well. Can't we all just get along.

Always wondered how artists got such fine details on those landscapes.

Saudi Arabian female artist who is commenting on the plight of undocumented workers in her country.

Enough said

Coming from Dubai it was nice to see some artists from the Middle East represented.

Queue up

Jeff Gillette does work inspired by Disney and the fall of humanity. He had a few pieces here including the souvenir poster

Edited September 8, 2015 by notudon

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

Happy workers.

Win some bling.

Hook a duck from the muck and win a cardboard fish finger.

Of course I played a round.

Toxic miniature golf

There was a scandal in the UK where horse meat was added to beef some ended up in grocery store lasagna. Here the carousel horse is being butchered Oh that Banksy.

Deflated for the flight home.

The balloons are reselling on eBay for crazy prices so now they only sell them to children. I was able to talk the staff into selling me one. Not for eBay. A great memento from the show

Watch the documentary.

The boat game was boats of refugees trying to flee to a better country. Sad. Very sad.

Knock the anvil over with a ping pong ball and win the anvil. I hit it a couple times and it didn't budge. I think they are cheating with glue or something

Edited September 8, 2015 by notudon

Awesome thanks! This is the most in depth trip report I've seen of the place. Crazy!

That looks amazing, thanks for sharing!

On Friday nights Dismaland does concerts at the park. When I was there it was Hip hop DJ's peanut Butter Wolf and DJ Yoda w/ Breakbeat Lou. PBW was really good. There was a surprise guest appearance, Yasiin Bey formerly known as Mos Def joined PBW for a freestyle rap session and then his DJ Producer joined him for some new unreleased material. It was a great performance. His in between song banter was fun, but not taped by me. Here are two songs I did tape. I heard that last nights Run the jewels performance was followed by an announced Fatboy Slim set. Rumor has it that Portishead will pop up in two weeks. Followed by the announced closing set with Massive Attack. Again if you are thinking about going, go. The park really is that amazing.

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

Thanks for re-posting the photos! Great report. Wish I could see that in person.

Truly, an amazing ARTpark! Thanks for posting all of your visit there.

The night shots are especially nice, and I still can't get over that

the statue in front of the castle is Ariel. It looked (at first) photo shopped there.

Thanks for the amazing in-depth photos - the most details I've seen yet of this amazing installation.

 

They really hit some nerves on this... very impressed.

If I were in the UK, I'd definitely check out this "park." I particularly like the loan office for kids--talk about a taste of reality.

Nice trip report!

Love this, thanks for posting!

Thanks so so much for being so obsessive with photographing so much of the park. I love the details everywhere... the sign on the back of the ice cream van, the slaughtered horse hanging from the carousel etc etc. Some of the art is amazing too. I really like the Little Mermaid outside the castle, it's such a cool optical illusion. Also love the paparazzi photographing Cinderella in the upturned carriage and the council workers painting over the art in the gallery, presumably in reference to graffiti getting cleaned off of walls)

Great report of a very interesting park. I am not really a Banksy fan..but I have to admit the dark sense of humour to this park does actually appeal.

The detail is awesome. The miserable staff are hilarious....especially as I have seen that at various theme parks where it is probably not supposed to be part of the joke!!

 

Thankyou for posting this.

Great pictures. Thanks for posting!

This is hands down one of the best TR I have seen in a long time. This exhibit looks amazing. Any chance it might tour? I would love to see it here in the States.

Excellent TR of the place. There was a lot of questions I had about the place that was answered in here! I particularly loved some of the pieces of work that were featured here, and the last Banksy piece, the crooked pic of the gluttonous fellow at the end of the table with all the food, had me admiring the longest due to not only the message depicted in the piece, but the placement and position of the piece. How it tilts towards the water making it feel like the man will fall into it.

 

Thank you for sharing this, it looks spectacular!

Security check going into Dismaland. Remember, no smiling.

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

Dismaland castle walthrough is very powerful. Warning, video containers strobe lights.

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

Grim Reaper bumper car dance

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

Jimmy Cauty's Afternath Displacement Principle was a highlight of the exhibition. The large scale and attention to the small details was impressive.

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

 

Banksy's horse meat carousel.

[youtu_be]

[/youtu_be]

Something about this whole idea rubs me the wrong way.

Some of the artworks like the one with the guy spraying lush while another guy is painting over it just sorta pissed me off because i at least feel it's supposed to paint the latter person as a bad guy, as there's also a picture where they're painting over classical art.

The issue I have with the whole Dismaland thing is what is it trying to say? Is it a comment on theme parks or a comment on fairgrounds. I'm suspicious because I have worked in the amusement industry for 30 years

 

It doesn't paint a pretty picture of either and looking at what's inside, despite the fact I work 3 miles away from it I wont go.

 

It has become a celebrity must do and be seen there (another reason I wont go) also after it closes the site goes back to what it was, and abandoned swimming pool complex on the seafront that nobody can work out what to do with it.

 

after all banksy is seen as being subversive but he is still charging people money to go and see his concept park...and would you pay to see a pile of rubbish and shopping trolley?

I wanna see the souvenir photo

The issue I have with the whole Dismaland thing is what is it trying to say?

 

It's art. It is supposed to generate thought and create feelings. A lot of what's in there is fairly obvious in its meaning. Other stuff is more subversive. That's how museums and exhibitions work. If you're looking for one unifying statement, I think you're missing the point.

Thank you for posting this. I too enjoyed this photo TR! Very interesting ideas and fun. I kinda find the carousel with lasagne meat and another hanging and the artwork of that interesting, and of course the castle with the crazy looking Ariel.