Is Banksy’s New Project a Subversive Disneyland Parody?

Banksy’s latest project appears to be a dark parody of Disneyland, according to local sources in the British resort town of Weston-super-Mare. The Tropicana, a 10,200-square-foot abandoned swimming pool facility, has been sealed off under the auspices of a Hollywood production company using it to film. But intelligence has emerged that it is in fact a large-scale Banksy production called “Dismaland.”

A giant pink castle, a windmill, an S-shaped gas tanker, and a metal horse are among the structures that have been slowly erected over the past few months. The site has signs that read “Crew Notice Grey Fox Productions,” posted around the exterior of the area.

Speculation that the production was affiliated with the famed street artist began to mount when eagle-eyed observers spotted Holly Cushing, Banksy’s alleged manager who fans may recognize from Exit Through The Gift Shop, onsite talking to security guards.

https://instagram.com/p/6hh2K_i9Ps/?tagged=dismaland

According to the Daily Mail, financial records show that Cushing and Simon Durban, who is believed to be Banksy’s accountant, set up a company earlier this year under the name “Dismaland,” a play on words that goes back to a 2012 stencil the artist produced that reads: “Welcome to Dismaland…Life isn’t always a fairytale.”

In 2006, Banksy allegedly inserted a life-sized inflatable doll dressed as a Guantanamo Bay prisoner inside a ride at Disneyland.

The subversive theme park, which is expected to open to the public on August 21, is the kind of ambitious intervention audiences haven’t seen since the artist’s 2013 “New York residency,” in which he painted or installed a new artwork somewhere in the city every day for a month. Given Banksy’s elusive and playful nature, it’s likely that trolling everyone to believe a film company is involved is just another facet of the artwork.