46 Wednesday 25th June 2008
newslocal
Naked Ambition
AS I bent over at the
behest of a cranky Amer-
ican shouting at me
through a megaphone, I
wondered exactly what I
was doing in front of
Blarney Castle with 1,100
other naked men and
women.
Spencer Tunick was
attempting to create a
‘cobblestone’ effect with
our backs , apparently,
but as I stared into the
wrong end of a middle
aged man, I was begin-
ning to question his
motives.
I ended up as part of
this experiement in nude
art by accident. A number
of months ago I was sent
an email telling me I
should sign up to be part
of this photographic
installation. The email
was meant as a joke but it
caught my imagination.
Signing up, while sitting
at my desk was easy.
I entered my details and
pressed ‘Accept’. That
was all there was to it.
Until last week when my
alarm started buzzing at
2.15a.m. I had only gone
to bed at 11p.m. so the
draw of my duvet and pil-
low was very strong, but
curosity got the better of
me and I dragged on my
clothes and headed out
into the night.
As I drove towards
Blarney Castle a lot of
things were going
through my head but I
was surprised to find that
I wasn’t nervous. Not of
taking off my clothes
anyway. What I was
questioning was whether
I would recognise anyone
in the crowd - and more
importantly would they
recognise me.
When I arrived I was a
little drowsy but the
whole thing was very
well organised and get-
ting registered and being
given my plastic bag for
my clothes took all of one
minute.
There were a number of
local youngsters dressed
as priests and were
‘protesting’ in a way rem-
Spencer Tunick
by
David Gilbert
iniscent of Father Ted
protesting against The
Passion of St. Tibulus.
These lads soon joined
the rest of us in the mid-
dle of the garden sur-
rounding Blarney Castle.
As you walked
throught the gardens
towards the castle there
were silent security
guards who guided peo-
ple towards the designat-
ed stripping area.
I was at the scene for
3a.m. as I had been told
and quickly noticed that
being on my own I was in
the minority. Most people
had someone else with
them and there were quite
a number of groups who
had made the decision to
strip off en masse.
I wondered whether
this was a good idea or
not. The idea of me get-
ting naked in front of
1,000 people I didn’t
know was not too scary,
but shedding my clothes
next to my friends was
less appealling.
As time went on and
we saw the first glimpses
of daylight the crowd
grew. We were addressed
eventually by the project
director and the organiser
of the Cork Midsommer
Festival, which the photo-
shoot was part of. All this
didn’t help the fact that
we had now been sitting
in the cold for an hour-
and-a-half. One man had
enough and in a fit of
Spencer
Tunick -
Biography
excitement stripped off to
rapturous applause.
Unfortunately for him
nothing happened for
another hour and nobody
else stripped off in a show
of solidarity.
Eventually, the man of
the moment, Spencer - as
we all seemed to call him
- climbed up a ladder and
address his subjects.
Everyone stood and
clapped enthuastically
when he told us what he
was going to do with us.
He outlined the posi-
tions we would be put in
and what we would have
to do. My mind was rac-
ing at the thought of the
great work of art I was
going to be part of. I was
going to be imortalised
forever. The worry of
being naked in front of all
these people was gone
from my mind and we
were all one big, soon-to-
be-naked family.
The waiting was the
worst part of the experi-
ence and after Spence - as
I was now calling him -
had outlined his vision,
there was a wait of an
hour for the ‘light to be
just right’.
When the time eventu-
ally came it was a bit of a
non-event. Those of us in
the middle and back of
the crowd were unable to
hear the instruction to
strip and the stripping
happened in a kind of rip-
ple movement from front
to back.
Going from fully
dressed to naked took all
of 15 seconds. By the
time I had placed every-
thing in my plastic bag
and looked up, everyone
was naked. Everyone
quickly started to move
as this made it seem as if
we were naked for a rea-
son. Men rubbed their
hands together and
laughed and joked as if it
was all very normal.
Woman crossed their
hands over their chests
and seemed to be taking
the moment in.
We crossed through a
grave of trees and
Born: Middletown, New York in
1967
Education: Attended military
school in New York State before com-
pleting a Bachelor of Arts Degree in
Emerson College in Boston in 1988.
Work: Tunick started out pho-
tographing single nudes in New York
City before moving on to small groups
of people. One of his first installations
WEXFORD ECHO NEWSPAPERS
emerged into a clearing in
front of the castle. Initial-
ly people were huddled
underneath the trees and
seem reticent to emerge.
Spence was soon on the
megaphone and was
ordering his people to
pull and drag people into
position.
We were soon all stand-
ing facing the camera and
told to look straight ahead
without smiling. This
seemed a bit of a chal-
lenge for some but even-
tually silence decended
and for the first time I
took in where I was and
what I was doing.
It was a very surreal
moment as if I had just
woken up and found
myself in a field with a
thousand naked people. It
was also very calming
and there was a sense that
we were cut off from the
world.
A number of different
positions were organised
and photographed,
including the infamous
‘cobblestone’ position.
We were then moved to
another location, picking
up roses on the way. Here
we held roses in the air
and lay down with the
roses held directly over
our heads. And then it
was over.
Before I knew it I had
my clothes back on and I
was walking back to my
car. Later that day as I
was back at my desk I
stopped and thought
about what I had exper-
inced that morning. It
was as if I had dreamt
what had gone on, but the
photos are as proof.
I’m not sure if I will
ever do something like
this again but I would
encourage everyone to
try it once if they get the
chance. It is not at all
scary and no one will be
looking and judging, as
everyone doing it will be
there for themselves and
not to ridicule you.
Future Spencer Tunick
installations will be high-
lighted on www.spencer-
Hundreds pose nude for Spencer Tunick on the Aletsch Glacier near Bettmeralp,
tunick.com Switzerland to raise awareness of Global warming
involving a group of people was in castle-on-Tyne and over 18,000 Mexi-
front of the UN building in New York
as a response to what was happening in
Rwanda.
cans stripped off in Mexico City last
year.
Tunick has been arrested five times
Over the 1990s and into the 21st
century Tunick has created some
amazing images at some of the most
in New York City but the charges have
always been dropped subsequently.
The Supreme Court has held up his
famous locations around the world.
7,000 people posed nude for him in
Barcelona, 1,700 posed naked in New-
right to free speech.
He currently lives in Tribeca, an
artistic neighbourhood in New York.