Following a life span of just five weeks, Banksy’s Dismaland has been dismantled.
The building materials are now shelters for refugees stranded at the French port of Calais, where 6,000 migrants live in limbo in the “Jungle”.
The site where the “bemusement park” briefly stood has returned to normal: an abandoned lido, called Tropicana, once the heart of British seaside town Weston-super-Mare, and a place where Banksy spent his (or her) summers until the age of 17.
The Dismaland website – which drip-fed information to a clamouring public – is now defunct, and just a photo of a cardboard-cutout Dismaland remains.
But Dismaland left much in its wake. The pop-up art installation – based around the idea of a twisted Disneyland – generated more than £20m ($30.5m, €27.3m) for the local economy, with tourism businesses such as hotels, B&Bs, restaurants and attractions reporting significant boosts in revenue, according to tourism body Visit Somerset.
The Hoteliers Association said an additional 50,000 bed-nights were sold in Weston’s hotels and train passengers between the town and London doubled during the 21 August to 27 September period when Dismaland was open.
The park featured 10 new sculptures and artworks by Banksy, as well as works by 56 of Banksy’s favourite contemporary artists. Attractions included Mini Gulf, Guerilla Island and Cinderella’s Castle. Live comedy and music events also took place, with Fatboy Slim, Damon Albarn and Russian feminist punk act Pussy Riot performing.
Dismaland was a satirical jab at theme parks, there’s no doubt. The sulky workforce, the long queues, the litter on the ground, the unwinnable games and the general ambience of disrepair – and despair – underlined what can be wrong with parks.
In a way, Dismaland also highlighted what’s right. Dismaland brought people out, together. It got people talking, it got them excited and – whether they were supposed to or not – they had fun.
We see plenty of crossover between sectors in the modern industry, with museums seeking to entertain and visitor attractions seeking to educate. Banksy took this to the extreme with an art gallery in an amusement park – although he says he was not too pleased with the result.
“I have to admit there was no one more disappointed than me. I think the whole idea might have been a big mistake. By repackaging an art show as an amusement park, everybody’s expectations were raised substantially – the branding writes a cheque that the event doesn’t cash,” Banksy told The Sunday Times.
“I suddenly realised the whole premise was wrong. I’d pushed it too far and it had gone from being a pretty good art show to a very sub-standard amusement park.”