More nudity than normal in Amsterdam, as photographer Spencer Tunick hits town

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands: Dozens of women posed naked on their bicycles on a bridge over one of Amsterdam’s historic canals Sunday — a unique sight even in a city famed for its relaxed attitude toward nudity and sex.

Photo: ANP

They were among 2,000 men and women who participated in a series of four nude group photos in the city in the early hours of the morning as part of the latest project of U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick.

The first and largest composition was in a decidedly prosaic location: a parking garage on the outer ring of the city.

But what the location lacked in romance, it made up for in style. Participants lined the railings of the garage’s twin circular towers, creating a pattern of multicolor stripes against the white building and an overcast sky.

The location for the latest installation, as Spencer Tunick calls his photo shoots, was closely guarded. Participants were told where to gather — at 3:30 AM — and where only then told at which locations the sessions would take place.

“I was glad to have long hair,” one women told news daily De Telegraaf. “Otherwise I would have been very cold.”

Photo: AP

The largest shoot was at the parking garage in Marnixstraat, where naked bodoes lined the ifferent levels of the structure’s two towers.

Nude women biked along the nearby Lijnbaansgracht canal, while naked men gathered around the gas station next to the parking garage.

Naked men en women mingled on a bridge at Leliegracht.

“It was very hard to find space in a city meant for such a small amount of people,” Tunick said. “I was very lucky to get almost 2,000 to fill a massive car park.”

The women on bikes were selected from the larger group and posed with their chins pointed triumphantly upward toward the sky.

“It was very exciting and I didn’t even feel shy,” said a Dutch woman called Didi, who didn’t want to give her last name.

Other compositions included a group of men posing together near the parking garage and a mixed group of men and women on another bridge.

Tunick, from New York City, has become famous for photographing thousands of naked people in public settings worldwide, from London and Vienna to Buenos Aires and Buffalo. He set a record for naked photography with a photo of 18,000 people in the buff in Mexico City last year.

“I get people to shed their inhibitions basically because the people shedding their clothing are interested in contemporary art,” Tunick said.

Photos from Sunday’s session were to be exhibited at an Amsterdam club Sunday night, and will be reproduced on billboards in the city later in the summer.
- Source: AP, via the International Herald Tribune, June 3, 2007

Spencer Tunick’s Amsterdam installation is the first in an annual series of art projects to be commissioned by DREAM AMSTERDAM

DREAM AMSTERDAM’s official opening takes place at today at 21:00 (9:00 PM) at trendy Club 11, where photos of today’s session will be displayed.

Tomorrow evening Spencer Tunick will present a speech at nearby Stedelijk Museum — Amsterdam’s world-renowned museum of contemporary art.

Life-size pictures of today’s shoot will be displayed on billboards at various locations throughout Amsterdam from June 23rd through the end of August.

• Read what motivates Spencer Tunick

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