Music fans and Blur fans especially would have been delighted to see that Blur lead man Damon Albarn made an impromptu appearance during De La Soul’s set at Dismaland. De La Soul were not initially signed on to be part of Banky’s ‘Dismaland’, but rather were replacements for trip-hop duo ‘Massive Attack’.
Dismaland of course being an art project organised by elusive English artist Banksy; being deemed a ‘bemusement’ park rather than an amusement park. Through Banky’s organisation he has managed to bring a wide range of global artists and musicians to Weston-Super-Mare; from Damien Hirst to Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani.
Dismaland opened in on the 21st August and shall be closing tomorrow on the 27th September. It can be claimed to have been a great success, bringing in over 150,000 visitors from all around the world and helping generate £20m worth of tourism money for Weston-Super-Mare.
De La Soul brought out Damon Albarn when covering the Gorillaz’ classic ‘Feel Good Inc.':
Damon came to Dismaland fresh off the back of his critically acclaimed Album with Blur ‘The Magic Whip’. Despite being their first album for over 12 years, it was clear that Blur’s talent and musical ability is still prominent.
Dismaland has produced a great deal of money for the local economy and local businesses alike. With local manager of Fish and Chip shop ‘Winston’s Fish and Chips’ saying this on the matter:
“It’s been manic for the past six weeks and we’re all knackered,” he said. “It’s so great as it’s put us on the map; we’ve had customers from Germany, Italy, America, who’ve come over to the UK just to see it, but I’m quite glad this is the final weekend. I’m completely exhausted.”
Dismaland was as controversial as expected, with Russian feminist band ‘Pussy Riot’ helping conclude the musical side of the art project, performing their first live performance last night. It was only through their connections with Banksy that they were not just able to perform but that they wanted to perform, as member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova said:
“Banksy isn’t scared to talk about topics that are important in his works or make them political, not like so many other artists around,” Tolokonnikova told the Guardian. “There is an installation at Dismaland that we found particularly powerful which features boats of refugees and some of them are dead or drowning, but you can also drive the boats. It is controversial, it is in bad taste and it makes people think – that’s what art should do, and that’s what Pussy Riot does.”
Dismaland offered a great deal of thought provoking art as well as entertainment for people; it has exceeded expectations and has succeeded in Banksy’s aims, which were to get people thinking about the deeper, complex issues of the world, through the irony of an amusement park. Banky’s unique take on art and the world has yet again shone through.
