Day By Day

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Spencer Tunick Strikes Again


One of my correspondents notes that the tide of exhibitionism is running strong and full [fool?] in Britain.

BBC reports:
Hundreds of nudes cross the Tyne

About 1,700 men and women have appeared naked in Tyneside in the name of art.

Starting at a chilly 0400 BST, they posed at four locations in Newcastle and Gateshead, donning plastic white ponchos to cross the River Tyne.

New York photographer Spencer Tunick enlisted the volunteers for Naked City, his first large-scale UK installation.

It follows his nude photo shoots in New York, Barcelona, Belgium and Brazil. "There is a sensual element to it, but it's not a sexual experience," he said.

'Public sphere'

Gateshead's Baltic Centre said the work would show "the poetic whole resulting from individual bodies arranged in a sculptural way in an urban setting".

This would "challenge traditionally-held views on nudity and privacy as well as social and political issues surrounding art in the public sphere".

Read it here.

There certainly seems to be a lot of this stuff going on. People everywhere seem to be dropping trou for the oddest reasons. On one point they all insist, though. This is not, they say time and again, "sexual."

OK, I'll buy that -- but what, then, is it? I certainly don't accept that twaddle about "poetic whole resulting from individual bodies arranged in an urban setting". And as far as making a daring statement -- come on, now, this isn't Victorian England we're talking about.

So, tell me guys..., just what are you up to?

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