A giant sculpture of Tina Turner‘s head is set to be unveiled at the Dreamland vintage amusement park in Margate.
Standing 7m tall and 7m wide, the mammoth piece of fan art – similar to the giant statue of Jeff Goldblum that adorned London last year – will be unveiled at the park on August 10, and guests can visit it every day over the summer for free. You can view a video of the sculpture coming together below.
It is being erected ahead of this year’s Turner Prize which comes to Margate’s Turner Contemporary gallery from September 28.
Dubbed, The Tina Turner Prize, it is the amusement park’s answer to the forthcoming main event and is an open competition to find a new Tina Turner-themed work of art to adorn Dreamland’s Mural by The Sea billboard. It even contains a karaoke booth so fans of the iconic singer, who turns 80 this year, can belt out her famous hits.
CEO of Dreamland Margate Eddie Kemsley said: “Turner Prize 2019 is one of the biggest events to come to Margate – so we responded in kind.
“Margate is a haven for internationally renowned artists and the Turner Contemporary is at the heart of the town’s cultural evolution. But Margate is also – and always has been – delightfully kitsch, fun and a trendsetter. So we wanted to create a work of art at Dreamland that would complement the Turner Prize exhibition – by offering visitors another anchor point of interest – and also show the alternative, modern and wonderfully camp side of Margate’s arts scene.”
Recommended
Artists will be shortlisted by the end of August, and the finalists’ proposals will be put to a public vote, giving Dreamland’s guests the final say on who is the winner. The winning work will be on display from October through to January 2020.
The sculpture itself was commissioned by the artists Cool Shit who previously made a giant version of Lionel Richie’s head in 2013.
Last year, a giant 25ft statue of Jeff Goldblum appeared in front of Tower Bridge, to mark the 25th anniversary of Jurassic Park. He later admitted that he was impressed by the giant statue adding: “It was lovely, I liked that whole statue. I don’t know what it looked like in the flesh, or in the concrete, I didn’t see it. I saw pictures of it”.