Banksy’s ‘Dismaland’ or art as an agent of change

This paper will discuss the subversive cultural and political meanings deriving from the construction and dismantlement of Dismaland, a temporary art installation created by Banksy in 2015 that addressed a wide range of evils of globalization from the effects of climate change to the refugee crisis. By considering the exhibition first and foremost as “form of resistance to sanctioned imagery” (Anna Wactawek, 2011: 73), I will examine how through the creation of a utopia in reverse Banksy (i) challenged the construction of the social in visual terms; (ii) questioned modes of reception; and (iii) advocated social consciousness in an epoch of indifference towards the Other.