Banksy to send timbers from his United Kingdom theme park to refugees

Dismaland Calais. All the timber and fixtures from Dismaland are being sent to the “jungle” refugee camp near Calais to build shelters.

Thousands of refugees are in the greater Calais area seeking entry into Britain.

He posted an image of Dismaland’s derelict castle superimposed over the refugee camps in Calais with the caption: “Coming soon…”

The dark attraction has brought over 150,000 paying visitors and it boosted the seaside town’s economy by 20 million pounds (about $30 million). Over the past five weeks, 150,000 people have visited the theme park, with 4,000 tickets available online every day, and a further 500 held back for people who queue.

Visit Somerset chief executive John Turner described Dismaland as a “global phenomenon of major importance for the region“.

There were boats full of asylum seekers which could be driven round a pond, two juggernauts performing ballet and a camp training guests how to break into bus billboards.

This piece by Banksy at “Dismaland” appears to show migrants crowded into a boat.

He told the Sunday Times that he was inspired by seasonal theme parks which spring up around Christmas, “where they stick a few antlers on an Alsatian” and spray fake snow around.

Given that Dismaland’s home was in the United Kingdom, it’s interesting to see the project creators taking aim at their host country’s flaws as well, not merely at the American-based power structures that the theme park originally lampooned.

It is expected it will take around three weeks to dismantle Dismaland. The masked ball theme is said to be so that Banksy himself can go along without fear of his identity being revealed.

She said: “For me this is very similar to the work I am trying to do in Russian Federation with prisoners”.

Banksy, the world famous street artist and mastermind of the exhibit, called it a festival of art with a little anarchism in between, Metro reported.

But North Somerset Council said it had already lined up other events for the site.