The elusive British graffiti artist Banksy is moving his popular "Dismaland" theme park to Calais. The installations of the park, which satirized the tourism and entertainment industries, will be used to house refugees.
Image: dismaland.co.uk
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"Coming soon…Dismaland Calais. All the timber and fixtures from Dismaland are being sent to the 'jungle' refugee camp near Calais to build shelters. No tickets will be available," Dismaland staff said in a statement on the website.
Around 5,000 refugees fleeing conflict and poverty in the Middle East and Africa have been camping in inhuman conditions in and around the French port for several months now.
Banksy's 'Dismaland' set to shock
UK graffiti artist Banksy's sinister theme park, near Bristol, is set to displease with some thought-provoking attacks on Western society. It's probably best to leave the kids at home.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Yui Mok
Real life fairytale
Welcome to "Dismaland" - where all your nightmares can come true. Banksy is notorious for his satirical and sometimes cutting art works, but with his "Bemusement Park" in Weston-Super-Mare he's turned it up a notch. Highlights include a dead Cinderella surrounded by paparazzi. Make sure to take home one of the souvenir balloons, which read: "I'm an imbecile."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Hayhurst
Toilet humor
Set in the Tropicana - a former lido on the beachfront - "Dismaland" takes a critical look at the superficiality of western culture with its many outrageous exhibits, including this toilet roll bench. Other highlights include a sculpture of a pensioner being mauled by seagulls - an explicit reference to the much-reported recent "seagull epidemic" in the UK.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Yui Mok
Doing the rounds
What's a theme park without a merry-go-round? Sadly this ride isn't suitable for children, however, as the bulk of the horses have been "barbequed" to make a bulk lasagne - a nod to the horse meat scandal in the UK a few years back.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Yui Mok
Having a blast
Banksy - whose iconic graffiti art frequently commands many hundreds of thousands of euros - explained of the theme park: "I guess you'd say it's a theme park whose big theme is theme parks should have bigger themes." "Dismaland" comes complete with its very own model nuclear mushroom cloud, created by Australian-born sculptor Dietrich Wegner.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Yui Mok
A whale of a time
As well as works by the notoriously secretive Banksy, the open-air exhibition includes contributions by Damien Hirst and Jenny Holzer. "Dismaland" opens to the general public on Saturday, August 22 - and runs until September 27.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Yui Mok
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Rundown tents and migrants were also a theme in the anarchic amusement park, which opened in August in Weston-Super-Mare, a town in southwest England.
The so-called "bemusement park" included a derelict castle, a skewed sculpture of Disney's mermaid Ariel, and a dead Cinderella hanging out of her carriage as the paparazzi looked on.
According to local officials, the park drew more than 150,000 people and brought 20 million pounds ($30 million) to Weston-Super-Mare, which had been struggling to attract visitors after tourism dropped in the seaside town.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Banksy said his artwork was inspired by Christmas theme parks "where they stick some antlers on an Alsation dog" and spray fake snowflakes.
"It's ambitious but it's also crap…I think there's something very poetic and British about that," the elusive artist said.