Art provocateur Banksy has transformed a derelict English seafront lido called the Tropicana into his largest art project to date, a phantasmagoric installation called Dismaland – with the help of artists including Damien Hirst and Jenny Holzer. A limited number of tickets will also be available at the site.
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The tickets have now disappeared from the site. You can (attempt to) do so here but good luck getting through.
Local North Somerset council leader assured at a press conference that “we were absolutely delighted to have the biggest drawing name in art here”.
The doors are set to open to the wider public on Saturday and in a desperate scramble to get tickets, Dismaland’s website has crashed, causing people to vent their frustration on social media.
Simon Humphreys lives in Weston-super-Mare had brought along a coupon and proof of his address – but was disappointed to find all the free local tickets had gone.
Her son Charlie, 11, said: “I’ve never heard of Banksy – but it looks very cool”.
“I had a preview of the exhibition while it was still being assembled last week, and I have to say, it is absolutely brilliant. He is a clever man and a clever artist”.
Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have logged on after tickets were put on sale at midday today. It’s really awesome . You can find really wonderful pieces here, all of them have some kind of irony or wit. “I would like to see the castle”. The more than 50 artists from 17 countries are united by their questioning – and defiance – of mass culture.
Alan Kavanagh, from Bedford, who was on holiday in Bleadon, was one of those who visited in the hope of making their way in.
As was expected, the artist isn’t here to speak to his mission directly, or why he’s sending up Disney, but the artists on hand were more than happy to theorize.
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Banksy’s works, which have been stenciled on locations ranging from London and New York to the West Bank and Gaza, have become highly sought after in the art world he satirizes.
