I bet by now everyone of you has seen, read, or heard about the so called bemusement park Dismaland – brought to life by the dark and at times weird imagination of the infamous street artist Banksy. I’m pretty sure the whole world heard about it by now, I mean I personally saw it posted on Facebook from 3 different continents. Now some say it by far the greatest thing that came from Banksy’s head, others claim it to be disturbing and inappropriate but no matter which side you’re on and what you think of it, you have to admire and admit the fact that it is a total, absolute world-wide success. The world-wide attention that was brought onto that weird place just mere hours after its door opened for visitors gathered gigantic crowds of people trying to get a glimpse of this absolutely sinister place before it closes at the end of Spetember this year.
Now for everyone who wanted to visit but couldn’t, the New York photographer Barry Salzman have just shared his intriguing trip to the only bemusement park in the world. He captured every step of the way on camera – everything from the “warm welcoming” signs, through the incredible art inside, done by some of the world’s biggest talents. Salzman gives his very professional and greatly aesthetic point of view.
As probably a large mass of the people, Barry’s expectations were not very high, as he hadn’t even gotten there yet and already began to hear “they make you queue for hours” that it’s a “load of crap” or it is “predictably corny” and stuff like that. On top of that there was apparently something wrong with the ticketing system online and it was wrecked by the overwhelming traffic it created and that’s not all, a cool theory suggested that that was a part of Banksy’s plan to make the experience of the whole thing even more miserable and frustrating.
But in the end all those comments didn’t matter as Salzman himself described: “Nevertheless, I rationalized that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see a large-scale installation conceived by banksy, with an impressive roster of international participating artists that would likely never be reinstalled in its original form. And so, in full disclosure, I bought a black-market ticket for £30 — six-times it’s face value — and boarded the train from london to weston-super-mare.”
And at the end of the day it seems it was all well worth it: “The truth be told, I had an extraordinarily stimulating and thought-provoking day. The experiential installation is of a massive scale, from the ‘performance’ of the staff, to the funereal piped music, the real and faux security, theme park rides, fairground games, installations, and real art galleries. There’s lots that works and lots to critique, but for me the work that worked won out (by a long way).”
Whether you like it or not is up to you, but you cannot deny the instant international success it’s had in just a few weeks. Here are some of Barry Salzman’s incredible pictures from inside Dismaland:
