Banksy, Dismaland and I

The highlight of 2015 was during the summer. My work, Untitled Feast, was exhibited in Dismaland, Weston-super-Mare, England.

Dismaland Bemusement Park, a dismal amusement park created by the anonymous street artist Banksy, hosted an international art exhibition with over 50 artists from 17 nations.

Dismaland, defined by Banksy as a family theme park unsuitable for children, is a different kind of art exhibition. Banksy, the artist and curator, confronts the viewer with dismal, disturbing, real-life content displayed in an interactive amusement park. This contrast between the miserable and the enjoyable creates a very powerful experience.

Within the park stands a circus tent with a sign above its entrance: THE SLEEP OF REASON. Untitled Feast is exhibited on a round table in the center of the tent.

The work consists of dozens of tableware pieces: cups, teapots, sugar bowls and piles of plates from which human fingers and mouths emerge. In this combination of the still and the alive joined as one, I try to change the way we observe useful tableware. The useful, passive tableware can now be perceived as an active object, aware of itself and its surroundings — responding to it. On the table the pieces interact with each other, as if leaning towards each other, possibly feeding each other, escaping or following one another, or simply remaining alone.

Around the table there are ten chairs, and around the chairs sculptures of creatures and beasts, including Damien Hirst’s unicorn, Dorcas Casey’s beasts, Scott Hove’s Cakeland series, and Banksy’s rabbit in a hat. The tent can be seen as a freak-show tent from the past: the creatures gather for a feast, but the tableware is busy with itself. Like a story within a story.