The titanic Tina Turner that’s heading for Margate

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories

To Margate, where a curious new artwork is to be unveiled at the recently reopened Dreamland amusement park. The work in question – a seven metre-tall sculpture – is a vast likeness of Tina Turner devised by a pair of artists going by the collective moniker ‘Cool Shit’. According to a press release, the work will incorporate a karaoke booth so that fans of the soul legend can ‘belt out Simply The Best or Private Dancer to their heart’s content.’

Peculiar as it sounds, there’s more than meets the eye to the commission. This autumn, the Turner Prize exhibition for 2019 will be unveiled at Margate’s other great cultural institution, Turner Contemporary. Not to be outdone, Dreamland has decided to launch an art competition of its very own, coinciding with the installation of its new sculpture – the winner of which will adorn a giant billboard looking out over the town’s seafront. You guessed it: ‘The Tina Turner Prize’.

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