 |
Being nude in a public space can inspire exhilaration, upset or just plain awkwardness - the same complex mixture of emotions that fuels NAKED WORLD. Arlene Donnelly Nelson's follow-up documentary on Spencer Tunick follows the contemporary artist as he invites thousands of people of all races, shapes and sizes out of their clothes and into the streets for art's sake.
Spanning nine countries on seven continents, Tunick's "Nude Adrift" project calls into question what nakedness means to people in different climates, both geographic and political. His journey is marked by success and failure, good karma and bad luck. Tunick's photographic installations range from lone portraits of defiant Russians in front of St. Petersburg's Church of the Savior in Spilled Blood, to abortive attempts in front of the Louvre Museum in "liberated" Paris, to the staging of a "bodyscape" of 4,500 Australians in Melbourne.
Although Tunick doesn't emphasize the political and erotic in his work, he repeatedly finds that public nudity is rife with conflict. Tenacious yet affable, his frank approach toward potential subjects can provoke embarrassment, indignation and delight, producing some of the film's most amusing moments. Donnelly Nelson's film also spotlights Tunick's culturally diverse models, whose compelling stories are as different as their homelands.
Montreal, the first stop, welcomes Tunick's project with open arms, in sharp contrast to the days when he was repeatedly arrested while working in his hometown of New York City. The Museum of Contemporary Art helps organize a group installation of more than 2,000 people, who create a stunning vista of concrete and flesh.
The European leg of the tour that follows proves more trying. In a turnabout of expectations, he finds Londoners and Irish to be receptive to this concept of art, while most Parisians greet his requests with skepticism.
In St. Petersburg, Tunick finds a more joyful reception in a post-Soviet atmosphere of renewed freedom. His Russian subjects, including the director of a major art museum, find nudity in public an exhilarating and liberating experience. Japan, by contrast, generally looks askance at public nudity and displays of individuality. To pose for Tunick is to defy a pervasive culture of conformity.
In South Africa, 72-year-old James Matthews, a half-black, half-white poet and former political prisoner, stands defiant and proud in a tranquil field with the blighted remains of the now-destroyed District 6 neighborhood in the background. In downtown Melbourne, more than 4,500 people joyously converge to pose for two compositions. Before the journey culminates with a triumphant exhibition of Tunick's work at the prestigious Sao Paulo Bienal in Brazil, he braves the elements to reach Antarctica, where he photographs a grandmother who poses against the stark beauty of ice and rocks as a way of making peace with the badly burned body she's had since childhood.
NAKED WORLD is replete with chaotic artistic moments, thought-provoking and humorous cultural insights, creative passions and moving personal revelations. The events Tunick creates and his resulting artworks capture the common urge to engage in a forthright, unembarrassed celebration of pure humanity.
NAKED WORLD is a Juntos Films production; director and producer, Arlene Donnelly Nelson; executive producer, David Nelson; producer, Helen Hood Scheer; editor, Tom Donahue; camera, Dave Linstrom, Arlene Donnelly Nelson; composers, Leigh Roberts, Chris Hajian. For HBO: supervising producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.
|
|
|
   |
