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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/aug/21/banksy-dismaland-graffiti-art-market-capitalism-creativity
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Banksy's Dismaland: fans express frustration over crashing website | Banksy's Dismaland: fans express frustration over crashing website |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| People wanting to buy tickets for Banksy’s new Dismaland show have been finding it impossible and the question being asked was: is the miserable frustration meant to be part of the experience? | People wanting to buy tickets for Banksy’s new Dismaland show have been finding it impossible and the question being asked was: is the miserable frustration meant to be part of the experience? |
| The artist has opened his biggest project to date in a crumbling former lido in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. Journalists were allowed in on Thursday, and on Friday it was the turn of local residents who formed a long queue from early in the morning. Saturday is meant to be the first day for the wider public with 4,000 £3 tickets a day being made available. | |
| However, the Dismaland website was not working on Friday and people attempting to buy tickets took to Twitter to express their frustration, even asking if the whole thing was a hoax. | However, the Dismaland website was not working on Friday and people attempting to buy tickets took to Twitter to express their frustration, even asking if the whole thing was a hoax. |
| Is Banksy's Dismaland bemusement park just one big hoax? http://t.co/Uo5g5wgdUH | Is Banksy's Dismaland bemusement park just one big hoax? http://t.co/Uo5g5wgdUH |
| I guess the misery of queuing and a crashing website is part of the satire #Dismaland | I guess the misery of queuing and a crashing website is part of the satire #Dismaland |
| Love that the #Dismaland website keeps crashing and people are complaining about it. Irony really is lost on some people. | Love that the #Dismaland website keeps crashing and people are complaining about it. Irony really is lost on some people. |
| The Guardian can confirm that Dismaland exists, that nearly 60 artists including Banksy are exhibiting work and that dozens of people have been hired as miserable “helpers” wearing pink hi-vis jackets and cheap Mickey Mouse ears. | The Guardian can confirm that Dismaland exists, that nearly 60 artists including Banksy are exhibiting work and that dozens of people have been hired as miserable “helpers” wearing pink hi-vis jackets and cheap Mickey Mouse ears. |
| A message placed on the site said that it was buckling under the huge strain of demand for tickets. It read: “We would like to apologise to anyone attempting to buy tickets online today. | |
| “Due to unprecedented demand ‘the UK’s most disappointing new visitor attraction’ is currently unable to process online ticket sales.” | |
| It informed those interested in visiting on Saturday and Sunday, 22 and 23 August, that tickets would only be available on the door and, once the 2,000 capacity was reached, entry would be on a “one in/one out basis”. | |
| It said that online bookings would be taken again from Tuesday 25 August. | |
| Related: Banksy's Dismaland: 'a theme park unsuitable for children' – in pictures | Related: Banksy's Dismaland: 'a theme park unsuitable for children' – in pictures |
| The website problems came as Banksy spoke out against “predatory art speculators” who are endangering the “valid and important art form” of graffiti. In an exclusive Q&A with the Guardian Guide, the artist said making street art was hard enough without the added risk of someone removing it to sell to a rich private buyer. | |
| He criticised the art market as a whole for discouraging risk and rewarding artists for being able to deliver recognisable works on a regular basis. | He criticised the art market as a whole for discouraging risk and rewarding artists for being able to deliver recognisable works on a regular basis. |
| Banksy is the best known street artist in the world and has been leaving his comic, subversive mark on the urban landscape since the early 1990s. | |
| With his global rise has come the growing private market and many of his spray paint murals have been removed from their original settings and sold for huge sums. At an auction in 2013, for example, a mural called Slave Labour, which took a swipe at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, reportedly sold for more than £750,000. | With his global rise has come the growing private market and many of his spray paint murals have been removed from their original settings and sold for huge sums. At an auction in 2013, for example, a mural called Slave Labour, which took a swipe at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, reportedly sold for more than £750,000. |
| Banksy was asked how he felt when his work was sold or removed. He told the Guardian: “I don’t think much about it, but for the art form as a whole it’s unhealthy. | Banksy was asked how he felt when his work was sold or removed. He told the Guardian: “I don’t think much about it, but for the art form as a whole it’s unhealthy. |
| “When you paint illegally you have so much to contend with – cameras, cops, Neighbourhood Watch, drunk people throwing bottles at your head – so adding ‘predatory art speculators’ to the mix just makes it even harder. Graffiti is an important and valid art form. It would be a shame if it was killed by venture capitalism.” | “When you paint illegally you have so much to contend with – cameras, cops, Neighbourhood Watch, drunk people throwing bottles at your head – so adding ‘predatory art speculators’ to the mix just makes it even harder. Graffiti is an important and valid art form. It would be a shame if it was killed by venture capitalism.” |
| Related: Banksy: ‘I think a museum is a bad place to look at art’ | Related: Banksy: ‘I think a museum is a bad place to look at art’ |
| Asked whether he thought the art market poisoned creativity, he said it did not encourage it. Banksy said: “Like most markets, it rewards being able to reliably deliver recognisable product on a regular basis, which isn’t necessarily a recipe for exciting art. | Asked whether he thought the art market poisoned creativity, he said it did not encourage it. Banksy said: “Like most markets, it rewards being able to reliably deliver recognisable product on a regular basis, which isn’t necessarily a recipe for exciting art. |
| “I heard someone on the radio say: ‘It’s not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster.’ Which is why I’ve spent months making distorted fibreglass fairground sculptures to install in a dirty lido miles from anywhere.” | “I heard someone on the radio say: ‘It’s not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster.’ Which is why I’ve spent months making distorted fibreglass fairground sculptures to install in a dirty lido miles from anywhere.” |
| Dismaland opened its doors for the first time after being shrouded in secrecy, with local residents being led to believe it was a film set for a Hollywood thriller. Dreamed up and curated by Banksy, it is planned to remain open until 27 September. | Dismaland opened its doors for the first time after being shrouded in secrecy, with local residents being led to believe it was a film set for a Hollywood thriller. Dreamed up and curated by Banksy, it is planned to remain open until 27 September. |
| In his Guardian interview, he called it “a place where you can get your counterculture easily available over the counter. A theme park for the disenfranchised, with franchises available.” | In his Guardian interview, he called it “a place where you can get your counterculture easily available over the counter. A theme park for the disenfranchised, with franchises available.” |
| He said it was modelled on the sad winter wonderlands that pop up every December “where they charge £20 to look at some alsatians with antlers taped to their heads towing a sleigh from a skip”. He added: “I think a museum is a bad place to look at art; the worst context for art is other art.” | He said it was modelled on the sad winter wonderlands that pop up every December “where they charge £20 to look at some alsatians with antlers taped to their heads towing a sleigh from a skip”. He added: “I think a museum is a bad place to look at art; the worst context for art is other art.” |