Dismaland

Dismaland is now over, so I have no problem talking about their weird secrets you found here.
It was amazing. Start to finish amazing.
You queued forever. Every once and a while someone would tell you not to smile. No one was smiling in the queue.
But inside, how can you not smile. Everything was as depressing as it was brilliant. There was an art gallery filled with things like nuclear blast treehouses and Mickey Mouse being eaten alive by a snake. We went into a «freak show» that had a Damien Hurst unicorn in formaldehyde and a table filled with plates and cups that had fingers and mouths built into it.
In the middle was Cinderella’s Castle. Inside, a Diana-​esq car crash scene with the dead princess hanging out of her overturned pumpkin carriage as paparazzi took shots.
We rode a ferris wheel that went backwards. When we got off, the operator looked at us and said:
«Ok, you’re done… Don’t come back.»
The staff were maybe my favourite part. People who worked the rides or the door and just were so depressed it was funny. But dammit, no smiling.
We rode two hours to get there, two hours back and waited three hours in line. And it was easily worth it.

Where do i start.
It was bizzare, chances are you’ve seen all the media attention — but this is my summary of the day.
1. Funny, and satirical look at consumer culture
2. Really depressing tone — it gets under your skin
3. Consumer culture was exploiting some of the customers (yes i called them customers) in attendance (I saw people buy Dismaland T-​shirts, ‘I am an imbecile’ balloons, and also pay £2 to play games that were ‘art’ — they were actually paying money to play a run down version of a fairground game where you can win a cardboard fish finger in a bag. Irony boundaries/​exploitation — all over the place.
4. The food what looked like london street food — Falafel wraps or pizza, smelt amazing.
5. I watched the short film screen for 25minutes — was great actually — a highligh — overlooking the ‘park’ in a deckchair
6 .the more traditional art pieces were inside to the left — they were a real mix, some really harrowing, some just a bit of a basic point to be made.
7. people brought their kids — don’t take your kids, really.
8. it was too full — i got in quite early — and didn’t queue to get inside the traditional art hall — after i came out and sat down the place was heaving, queues for every ‘attraction/​installation’ 9. Cinderella piece inside the castle — you go in, have your photo, look at the crash and then buy a photo — i’m sure people were actually buying photos of the crash — without a hint of irony.
It was so many levels of irony I am not sure how I felt about it. Some of it was really depressing take on todays consumer culture, and some of it was hilarious. Parts were entertaining, parts seemed to be exploiting the people who were there. Lots of queues, lots of art, not really child friendly really.