Spencer Tunick will be in Sydney next year to create a new work called The Base as part of the 2010 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival. Thousands of Sydneysiders and Mardi Gras visitors are expected to participate nude in another one of Tunick’s signature art installations on March 1st 2010.

Tunick’s art challenges the preconceived notions of nudity and the culturally charged, often negative, connotations that are associated with it. In his work, it is the beauty inherent in all human beings that prevails. In October 2001 Tunick assembled about 4,500 naked people in Melbourne for a photo shoot. This will be his first large-scale installation in Sydney.

Born in Middletown, New York in 1967, Tunick currently lives in the Hudson Valley in New York State. Since 1992, he has done more than 95, short-lived, site-specific installations across the United States, Canada, and overseas.

Tunick’s installations require not only a great deal of organisation and collaboration, but his volunteers must trust him and his process. Volunteers who have agreed to pose arrive at a specific time and shed their clothing. With the help of his support team, Tunick then organises and directs the participants as a group to the positioning he desires and the moment is captured with photography and video.

“The base, the core, the heart of any truly free society depend on its acceptance of its diverse community as equal citizens,” said Tunick. “I am extremely excited to be creating a new work in Sydney and have already visited the city to look for suitable sites for this project. At the heart of The Base will be an exploration of what it takes to form the basis of an open and harmonious society.”

“Spencer’s work will be a jewel in the crown of Mardi Gras 2010,” said NMG CEO Anna McInerney. “The installations will take place on the Monday after the Parade and is part of our commitment to providing an array of unique experiences within the two-week festival.”

“It has taken over two years to make the project happen and I’m absolutely thrilled that we have Spencer coming to Sydney for Mardi Gras,” said NMG Festival Executive Producer Danielle Harvey. “It will be one of the largest public art works to come to Australia and will never be repeated! To have a large-scale, free and challenging work like this right at the heart of our Festival is a real step forward. We think it will have a major impact, demonstrating the relevance of Mardi Gras Festival for not only the wider city, but also generating interest around the world.”

Tunick invites all of Sydney – gay, straight and everyone in between – to come together and participate in the unique communal artwork. If you want to shed your clothes for art on March 1 2010 click here to sign up.

Photo: Copyright Spencer Tunick.