Tell us about your role here. Has it been an interesting process being a curator?

Is it a role
that you enjoyed ?
It turns out curating can be surprisingly creative. For instance, I asked Jenny Holzer for one of her
electronic signs, but she didnt have anything in stock. She said she was happy to supply the text,
but Id have to find some signs. I asked a lighting guy to get a big LED screen and he came back
with a system that cost 8000 a week to rent. I couldnt afford that, so I suggested we record
Jennys slogans and play them over the Tannoy system. She liked the idea and said shed never
done anything like it in forty years. So now we have a totally original Jenny Holzer that cost fuck
all.
Did you do a lot of editing? Were there things you liked at first that got cut out and other
things that grew because you liked the direction they were heading?
A lot of the decisions have been made by neglect. I put together a whole list of artists and pieces I
wanted, and then, a month later, if I hadnt done anything about it, I knew it probably wasnt worth
pursuing. When youre busy, the most important things have a way of asserting themselves. I
discovered not now is as valid a reaction as anything else.
How much does the reaction matter to you? I know it matters to us, the critics and audience,
but forget us for a second. Does it matter to you?
Im at a point with art where I only really care if the piece is more than the sum of its parts. Im
lucky because what I make either succeeds or fails. Some people undoubtedly would tell you thats
why its crap art, but thats the way it is. I feel sorry for Abstract Expressionistshow do they
know when to go home?
All I need is to make my point and get something more out of it than what I put in. If something
extra has happened between the idea and realizing it, thats a win. This week I surrounded my
Cinderellas carriage with a ring of paparazzi, and the flash bulbs made the shadows leap around the
room, and the pumpkin looked like it was lit by flickering candles, so Im good. I never saw that
coming.
My satisfaction level is independent of your opinion. If I feel a piece has worked, theres nothing
you can say that will take that away. And the flip side is, if I know its failed, theres nothing you
can say that would make it OK.
Why does the world need Dismaland? What inspired you to create it and how did you find
the site?
Its an experiment in offering something less resolved than the average theme park. For some
reason its been labelled as twisted but Ive never called it that. We just built a family attraction
that acknowledges inequality and impending catastrophe. I would argue its theme parks which
ignore these things that are the twisted ones.
The location was easy to find I came here every summer for the first 17 years of my life.
This preoccupation with Disney, have you been subjected to too many re-runs of Cinderella
recently? What effect do you think Disney has on young minds?
I dont have an issue with Disney. Im not a hipster, so I dont think something is evil or vacuous
simply because its popular. The Dismal Land branding isnt about Disney at all its just a
framework that says OK, we accept that making art puts us in the light entertainment industry,

and well attempt to engage at that level but for the left.
Some Disney is very good, the Let it Go sequence in Frozen is brilliant the journey between the
beginning and end of that three minute song is pure cinematic gold.
What were your criteria for the artists you included? How did you find them? Have you met
and spoken to these artists?
I approached all the artists myself by email. Only two of them turned me down.
Youve described a lot of the work as post-modem can you explain what you mean by that?
I came up with the term and now Im desperately trying to work out what it means. Post-modem is
art that has high click potential, that invites being shared between people. This usually requires the
art to have at least two parts; embroidery but into car bonnets or a mushroom cloud thats also
a tree house. I think the internet puts greater demands on art. You could call it gimmicky if you
like, but I think that misses the point. We have a new medium for sharing visuals that rewards
novelty, insight and humour, but also recognises technical skill in a way modern art has ignored for
fifty years.
This show is on such a grand scale now your work appears in museums and special Banksy
theme parks are you still a Street Artist?
This is not a street art show. Its modelled on those failed Christmas parks that pop up every
December where they stick some antlers on an Alsatian dog and spray fake snow on a skip. Its
ambitious, but its also crap. I think theres something very poetic and British about all that.
You have included Damien Hirst in Dismaland if you see yourself as outside the art
establishment, why have you included Hirst who is the epitome of the YBA monied art crowd
in your show?
I didnt want to include Damien Hirst, the show doesnt need his validation or any of the baggage
that might come with his name. But when youre organising an art show at the seaside and you
know theres a sculpture of a beachball hovering on a jet of air above fifty sharpened steak knives
well, you have to include it. That piece is so poetic and technically intriguing. This show is packed
with a lot of exciting new artists it would be profoundly depressing if the stand-out artist was
Damien Hirst. But you cant argue with the piece. Its bigger than what you think of him, or what
you think of the art world, or even what he thinks of himself. Its a perfectly realised piece of work.
If you were a dad what would you tell your kids about the refugees in the Med? Or the
surveillance state or for that matter, Jeremy Corbyn?
In the remote control boat pond at Dismaland it randomly switches the boat you operate so you
have no control over whether your destiny is to be an asylum seeker or a western super-power.
I feel like my generation was the first to deal with the mass media beaming the worlds problems to
us in real time. I remember the baked beans cooling in my mouth as Newsround showed pictures of
flies crawling over the faces of African babies. Mostly weve chosen to deal with this by cocooning
ourselves, that we can live with the guilt. But why should children be immune from the idea that to
maintain our standard of living other children have to die trapped in the hulls of boats in the bottom
of the Mediterranean? The grown-ups might have convinced themselves small incremental change
and buying organic tomatoes is enough, but passing that mindset onto the next generation doesnt

feel like good parenting.

Is Dismaland something you will repeat? Could it become a permanent attraction? Given the
huge demand, would you extend the run?
I cant extend the run because of technical calculations. We have tall structures which have been
built and certified for one weather period. It gets windy there and were not insured for one minute
past the last day of September.
What has been the best thing about opening your Bemusement park, and the worst? I know
you expected people to be shocked, but they dont seem to be has the reaction been different
to what you expected?
There have been teething problems. I didnt realise that for the first week we had real security
searching people before they got to the ironic security, which obviously blunted the satire a bit.
But Ive learnt you should never underestimate what children are prepared to take on board and
respond to. Its fascinating to see that by not ignoring some more serious issues people find it
emboldening rather than depressing.
However the first day I wandered round with the public I have to admit there was no-one more
disappointed than me. I think the whole concept might be flawed. By repackaging an art show as an
amusement park everybodys expectations are raised substantially. The branding writes a cheque
that the event doesnt cash. I was there looking at Ben Longs sculpture of a horse constructed from
scaffolding, a piece that if it was shown in the V&A alongside other sculptures would be
remarkable, but the lady next to me asked her husband Does it do anything? I suddenly realised
the whole premise was wrong, Id pushed it too far and it had gone from being a pretty good art
show to a very sub-standard amusement park. I mean, who stands in the Tate looking at a Henry
Moore asking does it do anything?
How do you respond to someones charge that your art is facile and one dimensional?
A lot of critics dont like this kind of art because it doesnt require their validation or interpretation.
Theres nothing for them to do here.
Fundamentally I disagree with the charge that art is bad if its too easy to understand. Theres a
place for directness in other art forms music is full of it, youd have a hard time telling people
they should only listen to Opera and anything else isnt real music. I think theres space for art to
be loud, crass and obvious. If it looks like the rantings of an angry adolescent whats wrong with
that? What was wrong with punk? As far as Im concerned there are too many things we need to
discuss in the actual world before I start making abstract art.
Tell us a bit about the process of making Dismaland, when did you first get the idea? How
long have you been down there making things?
Its been six months for a handful of us. And its hard to stay focussed we spent three weeks
carving the foam wheels for Cinderellas carriage and nobody notices them at all. It took another
month getting the remote control boats to float after I overloaded them with people.
Has there been any blowback from Disney?
I think were covered by the new laws on parody that were introduced to the UK in October.
Twelve months ago it might have been different.

What do you mean by I am an Imbecile balloons is that patronising to your visitors? Do

you look down on mass popular culture?
Youd have to ask David Shrigley what those balloons mean he made them. All I know is I smiled
at the thought of a seven year old clutching one on the train as they made their way home.
If you were prime minister what would be the first things you would do?
Abolish inheritance.
What would you like your epitaph to be?
I dont care about posterity, thats what id like to be remembered for.