Charity of the Day: Banksy Says Dismaland Materials Will Go to a French Refugee Camp to Build Shelter

Remember Dismaland? That Banksy driven artistic bizarro Disneyland that promised a downer of a time for anyone who wanted to be bathed in meditations on the distractions of a morose, capitalist world? That one?

Well, it recently closed. But that doesn't mean the end for the materials that hosted tens of thousands on the western shores of England.

According to the Dismaland website the materials will go to the Calais refugee camp in France.

All the timber and fixtures from Dismaland are being sent to the 'jungle' refugee camp near Calais to build shelters. No online tickets will be available.

The Calais refugee camp is located in the north of France and has become home to thousands seeking asylum.



The Guardian had an extensive visit to the camp last month and it sounds like those materials could really be useful.

This camp was set up in April after the previous "Jungle camp" was demolished. It has a day centre that provides shower facilities and offers migrants one meal a day. However, aid workers say they are being overwhelmed by the numbers of people coming, mainly from east Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan, and conditions in the rest of the site are desperate.

...Women make up around 10% of the camp's population but have gone largely unnoticed, in part because early arrivals were secluded in a heavily guarded camp for women and children, but its 100 beds filled up long ago. Efforts are being made to set up a separate classroom to serve around 200 women - many of whom feel uncomfortable attending classes with male students they don't know - and their two dozen children.

Seems like a good use for a large scale piece of art. But hopefully, this doesn't make its way down there: