Cheeky volunteers sought for mass-nude project

Local & National

Naked ambition: 1,900 want to bare all

Why would anyone want to get up that early to watch?

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Wanted: A thousand or more cheeky volunteers willing to bare all in the name of art. Nudists and naturists need not apply.

In Mexico City he photographed 18,000 people all at once and all of them naked.

Now controversial contemporary artist Spencer Tunick is coming to Ireland where he is hoping the Irish will dare to bare their naughty bits in their droves to become part of his latest mass-nude project.

Tunick, who has been refused permits to display his artwork in America, is offering Irish hopefuls the chance to become part of his first back to back city art project in both Dublin and Cork this June.

Volunteers in both cities will peel off for a mass photo-shoot as part of the Dublin Docklands Development of Authority programme of events and the Cork Midsummer Festival. In return participants will receive a limited-edition photograph from the event they attended.

"I am definitely not looking for nudists or naturists to take part in Ireland," Tunick told the Irish Independent from New York yesterday.

"We don't want to work with them. We want everyday people, not exhibitionists." Nor is he too concerned that the events will attract gawkers and voyeurs.

"Why would anyone want to get up that early to watch? I think there are plenty of places people can see nude people and pay money to watch," he said.

He is hoping to get about 800 volunteers for his Cork shoot but in Dublin he hopes to do better much better than the 1,500 participants who volunteered for a recent project in Gateshead, Newcastle.

To register to participate in either event, volunteers should visit the website, spencertunickireland.ie . The Cork installation takes place on Tuesday, June 17 while the Dublin event will be staged four days later on Saturday, June 21.