WESTON-SUPER-MARE, ENGLAND - AUGUST 20: A steward looks on at Bansky's 'Dismaland' exhibition which opens tomorrow at a derelict seafront lido on August 20, 2015 in Weston-Super-Mare, England. The sh
A seaside "bemusement park" unveiled today by mysterious street artist Banksy has sparked controversy by featuring a Cinderella pumpkin crash sculpture which appears to echo Princess Diana's death.
The piece has been unveiled as part of the new graffiti exhibition, called the Dismaland Bemusement Park at Western-super-Mare, which also features hundreds of pieces by more than 50 artists.
The park, which is billed "the UK's most disappointing new visitor attraction" and sits on the site of the old Tropicana lido in the seaside town, has been sealed off over the last few weeks and curious locals were told a Hollywood production company was filming there.
But it has now been confirmed that guerrilla graffiti artist Banksy - whose true identity remains a mystery - is due to open the Dismaland show there on Saturday.
However, one artwork featured in the exhibition has already courted controversy.
Inside Banksy's fairytale castle lies a dead, blonde princess spilling out of her crashed carriage and lit up by the swarm of paparazzi, whose flashing cameras take photo after photo of the tragic scene.
It is impossible to not draw comparisons with the untimely death of Princess Diana in August 1997, when she was killed in a car crash in a Paris tunnel.
Banksy, whose identity has never been revealed, described the new exhibition as 'a festival of art, amusements and entry-level anarchism'.
"It's not a swipe at Disney," he said in a press release.
He said it is a serious attempt to assemble the most cutting edge artists in the world right now.
"It's not a swipe at Disney," he said today. "I banned any imagery of Mickey Mouse from the site. It's a showcase for the best line-up of artists I could imagine, apart from the two who turned me down."
With artists ranging from Jenny Holzer, the first woman to represent the United States in the Venice Biennale, to Ed Hall, a pensioner who has spent 40 years producing every major trade union banner from his garden shed, Banksy stresses that this is 'not a street art' show.
Many of Banksy's works will need audience participation to come to life as the show aims to offer an "escape from mindless escapism", organisers say.
Among the exhibits visitors will find a bus-mounted museum looking at the role of design in social control, and a portable cabin in the kids' area offering 'loans against your pocket money'.
A Punch and Judy puppet show includes references to Jimmy Savile and Fifty Shades of Grey after writer Julie Burchill gave "this seaside staple a good kicking". There is also "Mini Gulf", billed as "an oil caliphate themed crazy golf course made from the hockey pitch at Cheltenham Ladies college".
Banksy has banned spray paint, marker pens, knives and "legal representatives of the Walt Disney Corporation" from the site.
Guides at the exhibition today wore pink high-visibility vests and held bunches of black balloons bearing the motto: "I am an imbecile".
Visitors enter the theme park, which features work by dozens of artists, through a security check made from cardboard by Bill Barminski.
They are greeted with a view of the park and Banksy's fire-ravaged fairytale Cinderella Castle showing 'how it feels to be a real princess'.
There are boats full of asylum seekers which can be driven round a pond, two juggernauts performing ballet and a camp training guests how to break into bus billboards.
Banksy described the park as "a festival of art, amusements and entry-level anarchism", adding: "This is an art show for the 99 per cent who'd rather be at Alton Towers."
The Bristol-based artist was inspired to create the park after peeking through a gap in the fence at the Tropicana site in January.
He insists the site is not a "street art' show, adding that the art form is just as reassuringly white, middle class and lacking in women as any other art movement".
Artworks from Israel and Palestine hang side-by-side.
Visitors are able to photograph themselves behind a seaside-style piece with cut-out faces, featuring pirates carrying rifles.
Inside Banksy's princess castle lies a dead Cinderella spilling out of her crashed carriage, lit up by a group of photographers flashing their cameras and the light of a motorbike.
A bus-mounted museum examines the role of design in social control, while a portable building in the children's area offers loans against their pocket money.
Julie Birchill has rewritten the Punch and Judy show, while a riot control vehicle commissioned to serve on the streets of Northern Ireland lies submerged in a swimming pool.
Stewards in matching tabards and Disney-style ears are also part of the exhibition and stare blankly at visitors as they go about their duties.
A riot control vehicle which was originally commissioned to serve on the streets of Northern Ireland now lies half submerged in a swimming pool sprinkling pretty patterns from its water cannon.
On what the possible meaning of all this can be, Banksy said: "I guess you'd say it's a theme park whose big theme is - theme parks should have bigger themes."
Banksy chose the Tropicana after falling in love with the attraction - and the seaside - as a young boy growing up in nearby Bristol.
He told the Weston & Somerset Mercury today: "I loved the Tropicana as a kid, so getting to throw these doors open again is a real honour.
"I hope everyone from Weston will take the opportunity to once more stand in a puddle of murky water eating cold chips to the sound of crying children."
Dismaland will include 10 never-before-seen pieces from Banksy himself, all along thought-provoking themes and displaying his trademark controversial edge.
The exhibition also includes pieces from over 50 artists from 17 different countries.
Tens of thousands of art fans are expected to pour into Weston-super-Mare from around the world to take in the show, which will run for six weeks from Saturday.
The Dismaland name - a clear satire of Disneyland - offers a major thematic clue as to what the show will be about.
Nigel Ashton, leader of North Somerset Council, which owns the Tropicana, said the world-first extravaganza will be a huge hit.
He said: "I have had a preview of the exhibition while it was still being assembled last week, and I have to say, it is absolutely brilliant.
"As well as entertaining, it's also incredibly thought provoking."
He revealed top council figures have been having hush hush talks with Banksy's people for months.
Councillor Ashton said: "It gives me enormous pleasure to be hosting this world-class art exhibition in North Somerset, as well as a great relief to be able to talk about it, finally.
"We have been working closely with the organisers for months now, and for obvious reasons, have had to remain tight-lipped about the true nature of the event.
"In fact, only four people in the entire council knew what was really happening."
Banksy's decision to stage Dismaland at the Tropicana is a huge coup for Weston and will have massive benefits for the town in both the short and long terms.
The artist's 2009 show in Bristol attracted more than 300,000 fans - and delivered a stunning £15m boost to the city's economy.
That included around 55,000 bed and breakfast bookings by people visiting the city, with 140,000 fans admitting they had visited Bristol solely because of the exhibition.
Councillor Ashton hopes Dismaland will send Weston's tourist trade into orbit.
"I am hugely proud the council is hosting this event," he said.
"As well as welcoming the many thousands of people who will visit over the coming weeks, from all over the world, we are also keen to use this event to profile North Somerset, the opportunities that are here, and our ambition for the area."
Speaking at the site today, artist Paco Pomet, from Spain, said the exhibition is "really different to any others".
He said: "It's really amazing. You can find really amazing pieces here, all of them have some kind of irony or wit.
"Most of the artists are talking about our world today, which is changing very quickly. We need to be aware of that. This kind of work is critical."
Christopher Jobson, editor-in-chief of art blog Colossal, flew from Chicago to arrive at Dismaland today.
He said: "There's an entire gallery of paintings and sculptures - there are at least 50 artists here from around the world.
"It's so exciting that this is all here in this derelict old swimming pool. This is more of an experience than an art exhibit."
Speculation about Banksy's involvement began to mount earlier this week when a woman believed to be his manager, Holly Cushing, was spotted at the site.
The woman thought to be Miss Cushing - who is named as an executive producer on Exit Through The Gift Shop, a film about Banksy - was seen chatting to security guards.
Financial records also show that Miss Cushing set up a company called Dismaland Ltd with Simon Durban - the man believed to be Banksy's accountant - earlier this year.
The headline event could also solve the long-running Tropicana problem.
Banksy's exhibition is only expected to last six weeks - and it is not yet known if any permanent reminder will result.
But it could finally pave the way for longer-term regeneration.
The pool closed in 1999 and a string of regeneration bids have failed.
But council bosses reopened its café as The Bay earlier this year and hope the enormous exposure generated by Banksy's show will encourage new investors to come to the rescue.
The exhibition opens officially on Saturday and will run for six weeks, with demand for the 4,000 tickets per day expected to be sky-high.
There will be two viewing sessions each day, running from 11am-6pm and 7-11pm.
Tickets must be bought in advance via a new website which is due to go live today.
However, at Banksy's own request, there will be an exclusive "locals day" from 11am-3pm tomorrow to launch the show.
In 2008, Banksy was reportedly "unmasked" as Robin Gunningham, a former public schoolboy from Bristol. At the time Banksy's agent refused to confirm or deny the story.
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