by Elena Sommariva

Tens of thousands of people got together on September 30 to watch the burning of the immense sculpture designed by Antony Gormley and built on the beach at Margate in Kent near the Isle of Thanet.

Here, by an old abandoned amusement park, a 25-metre-high structure named Waste Man, made out of old wooden furniture salvaged from rubbish dumps, formed the centre of what could be described as a collective artistic performance that was documented by Caroline Deeds for Channel Four. Curated by London gallery Artangel, it forms part of a larger project, a film by Penny Woolcock entitled Exodus.

The project has the undisputed merit of attracting attention to a forgotten part of England, offering a moment of publicity as well as involving residents from the area in both the construction and burning of the sculpture.

https://www.artangel.org.uk