![Art History Happy Hour artwork](https://is4-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts123/v4/2e/38/25/2e38251e-3d79-2673-176d-131bcba68cf4/mza_7966272355818495294.jpg/100x100bb.jpg)
Dismaland: Art as Politics
Art History Happy Hour
English - October 31, 2015 21:51 - 39 minutes - 54.7 MB - ★★★★ - 89 ratingsVisual Arts Arts Education Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: Grand Transit: The MTA and Grand Central Terminal
Next Episode: KITTEHS! (i.e. Cats and Art)
This past August-September, a seaside town in England hosted a very different kind of holiday attraction: a dystopian theme park by the anonymous street-artist-turned-legit-artist Banksy. Called "Dismaland," the park, erected on the site of a derelict lido, was actually a curated exhibition of works by dozens of artists, all of which expressed critical views of mainstream culture and politics. In this episode, we introduce you to Dismaland through a discussion of street art and Banksy's oeuvre; look closely at a few works on display; consider the ways in which Dismaland intersects with three major trends in contemporary art; and talk about the fate of Dismaland as recycled materials for a notorious refugee camp near Calais, France.