Best known for his provocative street art, UK graffiti artist Banksy has branched out, opening a theme park near Bristol. Attractions at "Dismaland" include a dead Cinderella and model boats full of asylum seekers.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Yui Mok
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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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It was a popular seaside resort until discount air travel to warmer climes stole its thunder; Weston-Super-Mare has known better days.
But the once-bustling beach town may have just been handed a second life thanks to notorious street artist Banksy, who has opened Dismaland - what he calls a "bemusement park" in the town's derelict swimming pool center.
Visitors to the theme park should remove their rose-colored glasses before entering. They can enjoy a burnt out Disneyland castle, a brightly painted riot van from Northern Island, and a model of a pensioner being mauled by seagulls.
In a statement packed with his usual ironic whit, Banksy called Dismaland, "The UK's most disappointing new visitor attraction."
Damien Hirst and Pussy Riot on board
The installation includes works by Damien Hirst and Jenny Holzer, in what is an unmasked critique of contemporary Western culture - complete with balloons labeled, "I'm an imbecile." Russian punk rock provocateurs Pussy Riot are scheduled to perform over the weekend, as well as Bristol locals Massive Attack.
"I guess you'd say it's a theme park whose big theme is theme parks should have bigger themes," Banksy said in a statement.
The installation, which opens to the general public on Saturday, August 22 - and runs until September 27 - has been welcomed by the local North Somerset Council, with council leader Nigel Ashton proclaiming, "We were absolutely delighted to have the biggest drawing name in art here."
In 2009, over 300,000 people visited a Banksy show in nearby Bristol - where it is believed the secretive artist spent his formative years.
Banksy has built a reputation for his subversive and highly allegorical graffiti art, including works painted on ruined homes in Gaza earlier this year.
