Each week, the Guardian Weekend magazine's editorial team choose a picture, or set of pictures, that particularly tickle their fancy. This week, their choice is Spencer Tunick's Desert Spirits
“It’s a lot of work getting people naked, especially in England,” says Spencer Tunick, the American photographer
famous for his nude installation projects around the world. Of his 2005 project in Newcastle and Gateshead,
Tunick says, “Despite the fact that we got a lot of people there, it was hard to convince people to take a leap of faith
because the body is so sexualised there.” Tunick has not been put off by British reserve, however, and is this month
coming to Folkestone in Kent as part of the Museums At Night festival, where he plans to line up 125 individuals and
spend about two minutes on a nude portrait of each.
These days, Tunick’s partnerships with international museums and galleries ensure he has volunteers ready and
waiting. Working with the Burning Man festival in 2013, for example, meant he had “a city of willing people” to create
Desert Spirits in Nevada, shooting from before sunrise “up until the rays shone through the diaphanous fabric”. When
he started out in the early 90s, before the reach of the internet, Tunick headed to the streets of the Lower East Side
in Manhattan to hand out more than 1,000 flyers to passersby. “About 10-15% of them turned up. That was enough
at the time.”
Since then, the numbers have increased. “It is alarming to see 1,000 people naked, and many would think it’s very
chaotic, but these people are coming to participate and make art. It can be a very spiritual experience for them.”
Tunick can tap into the emotion of his installation only once it is over and his models share their experience with him:
“I am more of a catalyst. At the time, I am too busy working hard to please them and myself.”
There have been times when his volunteers have enjoyed themselves so much that they cheered. “I wish they were
quieter,” Tunick says. “I would rather them concentrate on me one on one, even if it is one to 1,000.”
• Spencer Tunick’s new book, European Installations, is available from spencertunickbooks.com. Museums At Night
takes place from 15-17 May.
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