Waste Man burnt in Exodus story

Abseilers and pulley systems were needed to create the Waste Man

Thousands of people have looked on while an 82ft-high (25m) sculpture of a man built out of rubbish was burned to the ground.

The Waste Man, designed by Angel of the North creator Antony Gormley, was the climax to a day of live public performances in Margate, Kent.

Teams of volunteers spent two months collecting waste materials and packing them into the sculpture's framework.

The Margate Exodus event was inspired by the Old Testament story of Moses.

Some of the activities will appear in a film to be shown in cinemas in 2007.

The entire site in the grounds of the Dreamland funfair in Margate was transformed into an Old Testament set.

Plague songs

The Exodus film, "a story about identity and migration", has been written and directed by Penny Woolcock.

The rest of the day's events, featuring local people as actors, were shot in a single take for the movie.

Volunteers collected waste for the sculpture

It began with the newly-elected "Pharaoh" delivering a victory speech in the town's central shopping precinct, followed by a procession to Dreamland via the clock tower.

Later, the Exodus cast performed a concert of songs based on the 10 plagues in the Old Testament.

Throughout the day, visitors were able to follow an audio trail featuring photographs of children who have moved to Margate, called Towards a Promised Land.

The whole Margate Exodus event was commissioned by a collaborative artistic group called Artangel.