Spencer Tunick: The man who persuades people to get nude for art

In just a few hours, hundreds signed up to strip off for a photoshoot celebrating Hull's seafaring past. Alex Wood reports.
A previous mass nude work by Spencer Tunick in Ireland.A previous mass nude work by Spencer Tunick in Ireland.
A previous mass nude work by Spencer Tunick in Ireland.

As a nation we have a reputation for being a little prudish. Going naked in the name of art is just not what we Brits are supposed to do. And yet judging from the rush there has been from those wanting to take part in artist Spencer Tunick’s latest mass naked art installation in Hull we may not be as shy as we may appear.

In a mad dash not to miss out on the once in a lifetime opportunity, more than 500 volunteers signed up to strip off for Sea of Hull within an hour, including art gallery curator Kirsten Simister who commissioned the piece and fans who follow the artist round the world. By 4pm yesterday the figure was over 1,300.

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Tunick, who has created quite literally a huge body of work since 1994, is already credited with the world’s largest naked photoshoot in 2003 when 7,000 bared all in Barcelona. He staged Naked Flesh Floods outside Sydney Opera House and encouraged gory red and gold-painted hordes out in the streets to mark the start of the Munich Opera Season.

Spencer Tunick at the Sea of Hull launch.Spencer Tunick at the Sea of Hull launch.
Spencer Tunick at the Sea of Hull launch.

Initial shock value aside, some of his work is surprisingly disturbing. As one volunteer felt moved to tell people looking at the pictures taken during one freezing early morning Tunick photoshoot on Long Island: “These aren’t dead bodies washed up on a beach are they?”

Many of those who have registered their interest in Tunick’s latest project will no doubt get cold feet even before they step out into the bracing Hull air. As the 49-year-old himself put it: “It takes a lot more people to actual participate than just signing up.”

Yesterday the New Yorker suggested the more timorous might overcome their inhibitions by the knowledge they won’t be completely naked. Instead they will be required to smother their own bodies in paint - blues and aqua greens - which he says is “like butter.”

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Reassuringly it’s not all toned athletic bodies Tunick wants for the photoshoot on Saturday July 9, the results of which will be unveiled as part of a major exhibition at the Ferens Art Gallery during next year’s City of Culture celebrations. All body types and gender are required - in fact the only stipulation is that anyone taking part has to be aged 18 or over.

Spencer Tunick at the Sea of Hull launch.Spencer Tunick at the Sea of Hull launch.
Spencer Tunick at the Sea of Hull launch.

Tunick has already scouted a number of locations, all within walking distance of each other and the shoot, which will begin at sunrise, will hopefully be over before the construction workers getting the city ready for City of Culture rise.

However, anyone thinking being part of a work of art might afford a touch of glamour should probably think again. Showers will not be provided and Tunick says “some people will hopefully go home as blue travellers.”

The artist, who wants to use a mass of people “to create the idea of a sea of humanity flooding the urban landscape”, said he was attracted by the city’s seafaring past and the fact that many of the streets and one of its parks was once water.

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I thought it would be great to bring the sea back to Hull - but why not have the bodies representing the sea? I hope to engage Hull, its most adventurous and brilliant people. Even people who might be afraid might lean towards it because they will be painting their own bodies. I invite all the rock and roll participants of Hull to come and sign up and get naked for me.”

Kirsten, the Ferens Art Gallery’s curator, was one of many to answer the clarion call.

She said: “I was very excited about the idea of commissioning Spencer, but was personally very reticent about taking part. But now I feel I will. I would really like to. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity - if you didn’t do it you would kick yourself.”

Others to sign up included Penny Dreadful - not her real name - a 32-year-old life model from Hull, who sees appearing in Tunick’s work as a natural progression of her day job.

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“It’s freeing; I think people like to show a certain image which they choose through clothing. It takes courage to be vulnerable and say, ‘This is me naked’. A lot of people have self-esteem issues to actually build up the courage to do something like this. It could change their perceptions by looking at other people and saying: ‘I’m not that bad’.”

Another volunteer Hannah Savage, 33, said: “I think Spencer’s art is incredible - as soon as I heard he was coming I was signing up, nothing was stopping me. I grew up with very liberal attitudes and I am very comfortable with my own body - the nudity is almost secondary.”

Others who will be beating a path to Hull include some of his die-hard fans who follow his work around the world. Among them will be the 80-year-old Arizona based-art collector Stephane Janssen, who owns the largest collection in the world of Tunick’s work. He will be appearing for his 13th and possibly last time. Another dedicated follower is a vicar from Gateshead.

As thanks for taking part, volunteers will walk away with a limited edition photograph and hopefully their dignity intact.

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Not surprisingly news of the event instantly became fertile ground for online jesters, one of whom quipped that the city was becoming a City of Sex Culture. Another carped that “it says a lot about culture when this is the first thing that seems to have got people interested.”

Beyond the instant commentators, the city was enjoying another good day, basking in positive media attention.

Kirsten added that the significance of the commission extended far beyond the gallery itself: “This is in many ways a project about the making of a new portrait of the city. Staging one of Spencer’s events here, is not something that happens everyday - it is truly extraordinary - and it helps to show how our ambitions and aspirations have been changing and raised following the city’s award of the title of UK City of Culture for 2017.

“Public nudity may still cause a negative reaction, it may provoke a sense of unease and it may court controversy, but Spencer’s work may equally find an unexpected empathy and home here.”

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No taxpayers’ money will be used in the commissioning of the event. For that the city has Thomas Robinson Ferens’ endowment to thank. The son of a miller, he moved up the ranks to become chairman of the famous old Hull company Reckitts - as the saying goes ‘Reckitt’s Blue (laundry bluing) made Ferens’ gold’.”

It has allowed the Ferens Art Gallery, currently closed for a £4.5m upgrade in readiness for City of Culture, to offer commissions that are the “envy” of other regional galleries. Whether the bewhiskered Victoria, whose obituary recalled a “generous, large-hearted, modest man of sterling character, a man who has set a high example for his fellow citizens to emulate”, would approve of the artwork that dares to bare all is another matter.

Those interested can register online before May 15. Visit www.hull2017.co.uk/seaofhull.

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