Giant Tina Turner to celebrate Turner Prize

Dreamland Margate to unveil giant sculpture of Tina Turner’s head in run up to Turner Prize 2019

Dreamland Margate has commissioned artists Cool Shit – the team behind Happy Kayne - to produce a giantinflatable sculpture of Tina Turner’s head for the vintage amusement park, in the run up to the Turner Prize 2019 exhibition.

Standing 7m tall and 7m wide, the mammoth piece of fan art will be unveiled at the park on 10th August, and guests can visit it every day over the summer for free. It will even contain a karaoke booth so fans of the iconic singer, who turns 80 this year, can belt out Simply The Best or Private Dancer to their heart’s content. 

The grand unveiling will also mark the launch of Dreamland’s answer to the Turner Prize 2019 (which comes to Margate’s Turner Contemporary gallery from September) - The Tina Turner Prize, an open competition to find a new Tina Turner-themed work of art to adorn Dreamland’s Mural by The Sea billboard. 

Cool Shit have been making inflatable sculptures ever since they first decided to share a giant version of Lionel Richie’s head in 2013. Other work includes sculptures of Kanye West, Snoop Dogg and Nicholas Cage In A Cage, and they have exhibited in New York, Miami Beach, London, Paris - and now Margate.

The Tina Turner head will have pride of place at Dreamland’s own Pride celebrations on 10th August, when the park will be awash with rainbow-themed fun, culminating in a performance by Melanie C Ft Sink The Pink on the outdoor Scenic Stage. 

The Tina Turner prize opens on 10th August and is open to any artist who wishes to submit a proposals for a bespoke work of art inspired by Tina Turner to adorn the Mural By The Sea billboard.

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.

Turner Prize 2019 will be exhibited at Turner Contemporary from 28th September, and the winner will be announced in December.