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| Visitors to Banksy's Dismaland asked to bring ID as touts try to cash in | |
| (about 13 hours later) | |
| Visitors to Dismaland, Banksy’s “bemusement park” project, are being asked to bring ID to confirm they have not bought their tickets from touts, as touted tickets fetch up to £600 a pair online. | Visitors to Dismaland, Banksy’s “bemusement park” project, are being asked to bring ID to confirm they have not bought their tickets from touts, as touted tickets fetch up to £600 a pair online. |
| The proof-of-purchase checks on the door of the attraction on the Weston-super-Mare seafront have sparked accusations of hypocrisy against the street artist, who is known for his critiques of the UK’s surveillance society. | The proof-of-purchase checks on the door of the attraction on the Weston-super-Mare seafront have sparked accusations of hypocrisy against the street artist, who is known for his critiques of the UK’s surveillance society. |
| Some of Banksy’s most recognisable works reference Britain’s obsession with surveillance, including murals of secret agents holding recording devices by a telephone booth and a child painting the slogan “one nation under CCTV” while watched by a policeman. | Some of Banksy’s most recognisable works reference Britain’s obsession with surveillance, including murals of secret agents holding recording devices by a telephone booth and a child painting the slogan “one nation under CCTV” while watched by a policeman. |
| However, one visitor has told the Guardian that although the terms and conditions of her ticket stipulated that she had to bring ID, she wasn’t asked to produce anything on the door other than her printed e-ticket. | However, one visitor has told the Guardian that although the terms and conditions of her ticket stipulated that she had to bring ID, she wasn’t asked to produce anything on the door other than her printed e-ticket. |
| Clare Halls, 27, an English and media studies teacher from Bath, said: “I understand why they are asking for ID, but I get the irony as well though. At the same time, ticket touts are bad, aren’t they? It does say on the ticket that they shouldn’t be resold.” | Clare Halls, 27, an English and media studies teacher from Bath, said: “I understand why they are asking for ID, but I get the irony as well though. At the same time, ticket touts are bad, aren’t they? It does say on the ticket that they shouldn’t be resold.” |
| Dismaland, billed as “the UK’s most disappointing new visitor attraction”, has become one of the country’s hottest tickets since it opened last week. Its website crashed minutes after sales first opened last week and organisers had to bring in an outside company, See Tickets, to manage the process. | Dismaland, billed as “the UK’s most disappointing new visitor attraction”, has become one of the country’s hottest tickets since it opened last week. Its website crashed minutes after sales first opened last week and organisers had to bring in an outside company, See Tickets, to manage the process. |
| The popularity of the attraction has led to a roaring trade in resale tickets. Entry to the attraction officially costs just £3, plus a £2 booking fee. However, the Guardian has found touts offering tickets on eBay for as much as £600 a pair. | The popularity of the attraction has led to a roaring trade in resale tickets. Entry to the attraction officially costs just £3, plus a £2 booking fee. However, the Guardian has found touts offering tickets on eBay for as much as £600 a pair. |
| Halls, who visited Dismaland with her boyfriend, said throngs of visitors were waiting to enter the attraction by the time it opened for their tranche of ticketholders at 7pm. Security guards checked their bags before directing them to entry booths where their tickets’ QR codes were scanned and they were waved through. | Halls, who visited Dismaland with her boyfriend, said throngs of visitors were waiting to enter the attraction by the time it opened for their tranche of ticketholders at 7pm. Security guards checked their bags before directing them to entry booths where their tickets’ QR codes were scanned and they were waved through. |
| “Banksy covers so many big issues in creative ways that considering the IDing of the event seems sort of irrelevant,” said Halls, who also edits a music website, Southsonic. “If there wasn’t a ticketing system, it would mean a lot of people would show up and be disappointed because they’d be over capacity all the time. It’s more important to have a process so that more people can see the park, even if it does mean more T&Cs.” | “Banksy covers so many big issues in creative ways that considering the IDing of the event seems sort of irrelevant,” said Halls, who also edits a music website, Southsonic. “If there wasn’t a ticketing system, it would mean a lot of people would show up and be disappointed because they’d be over capacity all the time. It’s more important to have a process so that more people can see the park, even if it does mean more T&Cs.” |
| Dismaland, Banksy’s biggest project to date, has been built on the 2.5-acre site of a crumbling former lido in Weston-super-Mare, with works by nearly 60 artists poking fun at the hypocrisies and ironies of modern society. Dozens of people have been hired as miserable “helpers” wearing pink hi-vis jackets and cheap Mickey Mouse ears. | Dismaland, Banksy’s biggest project to date, has been built on the 2.5-acre site of a crumbling former lido in Weston-super-Mare, with works by nearly 60 artists poking fun at the hypocrisies and ironies of modern society. Dozens of people have been hired as miserable “helpers” wearing pink hi-vis jackets and cheap Mickey Mouse ears. |
| A new promotional video for Dismaland shows a typical English nuclear family touring the park’s distinctly child-unfriendly attractions. Doors are shut in their faces, the young son endures a stringent search and the parents are left nauseated after viewing Banksy’s sculpture of Cinderella surrounded by paparazzi after a fatal coach crash. | A new promotional video for Dismaland shows a typical English nuclear family touring the park’s distinctly child-unfriendly attractions. Doors are shut in their faces, the young son endures a stringent search and the parents are left nauseated after viewing Banksy’s sculpture of Cinderella surrounded by paparazzi after a fatal coach crash. |
| The video showcases some of Dismaland’s most heavily trailed attractions, including its “pocket money loans” shop, a play on the payday lenders proliferating across the UK’s poorest areas, its scale model of a city on police lockdown after a riot, and its sculpture of Disney’s Little Mermaid deformed by radioactive pollution of the seas. | The video showcases some of Dismaland’s most heavily trailed attractions, including its “pocket money loans” shop, a play on the payday lenders proliferating across the UK’s poorest areas, its scale model of a city on police lockdown after a riot, and its sculpture of Disney’s Little Mermaid deformed by radioactive pollution of the seas. |
| It ends in appropriately dystopian style. The final shot shows the mother, in the passenger seat of the family car, looking back contentedly at her sleeping children, then looking across to the driver’s seat, where her husband has fallen asleep at the wheel. | It ends in appropriately dystopian style. The final shot shows the mother, in the passenger seat of the family car, looking back contentedly at her sleeping children, then looking across to the driver’s seat, where her husband has fallen asleep at the wheel. |
| Dismaland has caught the imagination of the public, and Halls said many different types of people were visiting. “I’m not sure if they all understood it, but I’m sure that a lot of things went over my head as well,” she said. | Dismaland has caught the imagination of the public, and Halls said many different types of people were visiting. “I’m not sure if they all understood it, but I’m sure that a lot of things went over my head as well,” she said. |
| 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’ |
| Demand was such that the Dismaland website was not working last Friday before the park’s openingPeople attempting to buy tickets expressed their frustration on Twitter, even asking if the whole thing was a hoax. Others speculated that the ticketing problems were all part of the satire. | Demand was such that the Dismaland website was not working last Friday before the park’s openingPeople attempting to buy tickets expressed their frustration on Twitter, even asking if the whole thing was a hoax. Others speculated that the ticketing problems were all part of the satire. |
| Recently Banksy spoke out against “predatory art speculators” who he said were endangering the “valid and important art form” of graffiti. | Recently Banksy spoke out against “predatory art speculators” who he said were endangering the “valid and important art form” of graffiti. |
| In a 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. | In a 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. |
| 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. But with his rise has come a growing private market for his work, and many of his spray-paint murals have been removed from their original settings and sold for huge sums. | 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. But with his rise has come a growing private market for his work, and many of his spray-paint murals have been removed from their original settings and sold for huge sums. |