Ever wonder what it would be like to be this age again with the mind you have now?
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Tag Archives: Nudity
. Spencer Tunick
Ever wonder what the masses really think about public nudity? You need to have Spencer Tunick around to discover the hidden truth. Somehow, in the name of art, he gets past our misplaced facades and reveals the very soul of human nature.
From www.pedestrian.tv; by Ash
Nudity, after reality television and Karl Stefanovic is the final frontier of human shame. Since childhood we’re conditioned to associate nudity with a lack of morals or promiscuity and unless you’re a stripper, model, streaker or Taylor Lautner’s torso only a handful of people should see you naked on any given day. This morning however, five thousand Sydneysiders threw clothing and caution to the unseasonably chilly wind for a nude artwork by American photographer Spencer Tunick – creating a soon-to-be iconic image and shifting the paradigm of public nudity in Australia in the process.
I mean, why is it acceptable for five thousand people to get naked for the sake of art but if five people tried disrobing at the Opera House steps tomorrow they’d be pepper sprayed like they abducted a bus-full of children? Or you could talk about how Tunick told strangers to kiss – with many interpreting his instructions as a spontaneous act of unity. Outside the context of high art – five thousand naked strangers making out in a public place would be viewed as the orgy precursor to the Apocalypse. But when framed by artistic intention some magical transformation takes place and nudity becomes a human interest story on the local news. Why is one illegal and one not? Who decides what’s appropriate and what’s not? And has the public threshold for nudity increased now that the SMH has posted a video with a thousand penises in it?
It’s something to think about and we’d love to hear your views but the more pertinent question might be how did this happen? I mean, it’s weird to think that one person can convince thousands of strangers halfway across the world to disrobe and blindly follow direction – but that’s Tunick’s M.O. exactly. After graduating from Art College in Boston, Tunick began shooting nudes in the late 80′s, gradually incorporating more participants and more iconic locations as his profile grew. In 2007 he shot 18.,000 nudes in Mexico City. This morning he shot a few thousand less at Sydney’s most recognizable Harbourside landmark. That’s the appeal I guess. To be part of something greater than yourself. To be immortalized in art. To forge a tangible record of your existence. Or…people just like getting naked and seeing other people naked. But you’d be wrong if to assume Tunick’s aim is to titillate. In his world human bodies are brush strokes and nudity a symbol for human homogeneity. From a distance we’re all the same says Tunick and looking at his photos you tend to agree.
What’s even stranger, considering the democracy of it all, is that Tunick remains fully clothed throughout the shoot’s duration. He barks orders from a microphone on a raised platform while racing against the light to conjure his magic. Pedestrian recently caught up with starkers participant Koots, 23, unemployed, for an insider’s view on taking it all off in the name of art.
Interview with Koots:
First question Koots – what compelled you to strip with a few thousand strangers?
It was just a chance to do something I wouldn’t usually do. Any other time legally, you’d get in trouble but all of a sudden it was cool to just strip off in public – it’s a pretty crazy double standard.
And was there much diversity in the crowd?
There were heaps of young people and a bunch of older people as well. It was pretty much 50/50 men and women – it wasn’t just like old dirty men. It was pretty even actually, all different people from all different backgrounds. From people you wouldn’t expect to crazy old men who were tattooed head to toe.
And how did it work logistically?
We got there at 4am and they organized everyone into different groups. Then they give you instructions on where to stand and how it’s going to work. Then they give the green light and thousands of people get their kit off and take their positions. Then he (Tunick) just goes through a variety of poses – facing one way, facing the other, lying down with you head in the crotch of the person behind you. There was one where he told everyone to kiss the person next to them regardless of whether it was a man or a woman – whatever. Then after that we went into the concert hall of the Opera House and he did another one where everyone was sitting down.
Where did you put your clothes?
Ryan McGinley Photography
Born October 1977, Ryan McGinley lives in New York City. He began taking photographs in 1998. In 2003, at the age of 24, McGinley was the youngest artist to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He was also named Photographer of the Year in 2003 by American Photo Magazine.
McGinley captures the spirit of youth and couples that with a rare and often vilified personal freedom–getting naked. Young men and women, guys and girls not quite over the the age threshold that locks them in the real world, who not only know how to enjoy their youth, but their own skin. Without shame or inhibition, McGinley takes the older observers back to their own youthful days and makes them dream about how much more carefree we could have been had we not been relentlessly indoctrinated about the shamefulness of the human body.
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. CHALK ONE MORE UP FOR BODY ACCEPTANCE
Anyone for breast stroke? A writer loses her body hang-ups to compete in the naturist Olympics.
By Jessica Hatcher
As I take my place on the starting block, a hush sweeps around the spectators at the side of the swimming pool. A race is about to begin.
The Union Jack is emblazoned on my swimming cap and to my left – poised and at the ready – are two lithe and toned Germans. I am competing for Great Britain at an international swimming competition and it should be a great honour.
But I can’t shake the feeling that there is something very, very wrong. For, apart from a silly stretchy hat, I am completely and utterly stark naked. And about to take part in the world’s largest nude swimming gala in front of hundreds of total strangers.
So how on earth have I ended up in such a predicament? Isn’t this the kind of situation that comes to people in their worst nightmares?
It all started innocently enough a few months ago, when I discovered the gala while browsing on the internet. In the name of journalistic research, I emailed the organisers to see if I could go along to witness it.
It sounded unique to say the least and fun at best, and they agreed. Then, a few weeks later, they called me back. Apparently there was a lack of competitors in my age group. Could I take part
I immediately got cold feet (and cold almost everything else). I am a competent swimmer, but I dislike competitive swimming almost as much as I do being naked in front of strangers (I’ve only ever stripped in public once – in a female communal shower after a yoga class – and it was fairly terrifying).
Yet while the thought of parading my naked body in front of hundreds of people filled me with abject horror, I couldn’t help but feel intrigued. Was I just getting worked up over nothing?
Of the Many Depictions of Adam & Eve
Michelangelo’s is my favorite . . .
And there are hundreds more. Most artists, believe it or not, avoided nudity. Including a few with fig leaves, some of the exceptions:
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. Watch Out for the New Age of Nudism
A fun piece from The Times Online, United Kingdom
By Christa D’Souza
Meet the hipsters who are making nakedness cool. They don’t go to naturist holiday camps or insist on playing tennis starkers.
So would you call yourself a nudist? No? All right then, I’ll rephrase the question. Have you ever been skinny-dipping, sunbathed naked, hung out in a nude spa in Scandiland or stripped off at a festival “for fun”? If the answer is yes to any of the above, then, chances are, you’re part of a growing type of nudist: the nude-curious.
It was curiosity, after all, that led to the creation of Skinbook, the first global social-networking site for nudists. Set up last year by a group of students from Manchester, its 24-year-old co-creator Karl Maddocks says that most people joining the site (which has more than 7,000 members to date) are “younger people who like being naked at home, or have maybe checked out a nudist beach on holiday and want to explore the idea”.
As opposed to the traditional hardline naturist philosophy that it’s our human right to be naked, for the nude-curious brigade, it’s all about taking your clothes off in your own time and on your own terms. “The more political nudists say we should be able to go to the supermarket naked if we want,” says Maddocks. “But I’d never back that if people are uncomfortable with it.” And so you’ll find new nudists flexing their toned, tattooed limbs on the most fashionable beaches of Ibiza and Mykonos and lapping up the sensation of naked swimming in the public baths of Helsinki. You’ll find them stripping off in their back gardens to make the most of the short-lived British summer, baring all at the Benicassim festival and feeling a new depth of stretch in naked yoga sessions. Where you won’t find them is pulling on a pair of socks and sandals and signing up for two weeks at a traditional nudist holiday camp. And as it turns out, I know quite a few of them.
Body Freedom
Despite the significant percentage of our population that finds something disturbing about the human body; despite the fact they would have you believe there is something about certain body parts that are vulgar; despite the fact they insist nudity is overtly sexual as opposed to natural, there is a smaller percentage of us who have discovered the astounding beauty of our bodies. They know the feeling of the sun on their skin, the feeling of a fresh summer breeze, the feeling of sharing something refreshing and invigorating and enlightening with others.
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The Edinburgh Fleshtival
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From Edinburgh Festivals
By Tim Cornwell
THE curtain went up this week on a Fringe show that threatens to dash Edinburgh’s strait-laced reputation for good.
In a Stockbridge church, as many as 150 local women are to take the stage in the festival – dancing energetically in the nude.
From a senior employee of Polygon – publishers of Edinburgh author Alexander McCall Smith – to a yoga instructor, and a New Town mother of four, the first batch of volunteers told yesterday why they chose to bare all in Trilogy.
“We’ve run through it clothed, and unclothed, and it felt fantastic,” said Sarah Morrison. “I am one of the many beautiful women who will dance. We are dancing energetically and vigorously and beautifully.”
Yoga in the Nude
For me the experience of nude yoga had meaning on several levels: an opportunity to meet other like-minded men, with whom I shared a purpose and a common goal; the giddy sensations of undressing with a group of men I didn’t know, men of different ages and body types; being naked and physically challenged with them; the strenuous positions of yoga; and the sensuality of being naked among other naked men.
It was indeed a sensual experience, but not a sexual one. Within moments, each of us were more involved in the challenges of exhausting exercise, forgetting our physical flaws, concentrating on our instructor’s demonstrations. The concept of nudity and being among nude men may have been intriguing enough to get our attention, but, having gathered in that warm candlelit room, the goal of self-improvement was foremost on our minds. This just happened to be a more interesting way to achieve it.
A similar experience from San Francisco is described in the following article from SFGate.
Doing it in the altogether is what makes this yoga practice altogether free from distractions
From SFGate
By Carolyne Zinko
Some fitness fads require sporty gear and equipment, but the practice of yoga requires only the bare essentials: loose clothes, a mat and time to do the exercises. The latest trend in yoga requires even less. We’re not talking about aqua yoga, done in a pool, or disco yoga, set to dance tunes, or “boga,” boxing yoga, done with gloves.
No, a San Francisco community center is offering naked yoga, where bare essentials means just that: Men and women are completely nude during the 90- minute class.
This is not the invention of “naked yoga guy” George Monty Davis, who made headlines last year for (legally) striking naked yoga poses at Fisherman’s Wharf, nor a “hot nude yoga” class for gay men, popular in Boston, Dallas and Los Angeles, or in any way connected to Internet-sold videos of voluptuous women doing naked yoga on wave-washed beaches with horses galloping by.
The new naked yoga class on Sunday mornings at the One Taste Urban Retreat Center on Folsom Street is meant to be transforming, not titillating. That’s a concept that American culture, with its taboos on nudity, might find difficult to grasp. The center, which opened 10 months ago, was founded by Nicole Daedone, also a co-founder of 111 Minna Gallery. It offers dance classes and massage, has a small cafe and an art gallery, and hosts various events.
The class is about the challenge of yoga, and about the challenge of accepting — and even revering — one’s own body.
“It’s not a sexual experience,” said Rob Kandell, the center’s business manager. “It’s a heart-opening experience.”
On a recent Sunday morning, yoga instructor Meredith Medland, 33, gave students a sort of pep talk before entering the classroom, emphasizing the idea of the body as a vessel and getting them to calm their thoughts.
Five women and four men entered fully clothed, carrying their mats. Many were in their 20s and 30s, but some were decades older.
Spartacus, A New Series on Starz
Damn!!!
If these eyes don’t open a man’s imagination to flights of fantasy, I doubt anything will.
Anyway, if you like looking at naked men in action scenes, this looks like a good place to be come January 2010. You’ll also have to be prepared for a lot of gore and violence. What doesn’t seem clear just yet, is whether or not a quality storyline will accompany these tantalizing scenes. Reviews from TV.COM and HITFIX.COM follow below.
From: TV.com
By Anna Hiatt
The gladiator Spartacus is coming to TV with a star-studded cast and a graphic style that makes 300 seem tame.
I am Spartacus!!
Raunchy sex and bloody violence reign in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, a new TV spectacle about a Thracian soldier-turned-gladiator. We got an exclusive look at the extended trailer for the new show, which is coming to Starz in January 2010. Trust us when we say: Spartacus is racier, more fast-paced, and more violent than any other show on TV.
How so? The sex scenes (complete with nudity) are so explicit everyone short of sex workers will blush. Every detail of the brutal gladiatorial massacres in Roman arenas is included — arching blood squirts, sliced tendons, the works. Seriously, it’s like 300 on steroids. On TV. Titillating, no?
Spartacus has the sensory impact of a sledgehammer — in a good way. For visual punch, the show is mostly produced using a green screen (meaning most of the backgrounds are computer-generated), with meticulous attention paid to visual storytelling. The result? A show that’s so realistic you’ll feel like one of the thousands of jeering Romans watching as those poor suckers get skewered in the arena. It’s hard not to enjoy.
In addition to sex and violence, Spartacus also has an impressive cast, including the Warrior Princess Lucy Lawless as the scheming wife of Batiatus (John Hannah), owner of a gladiator school. Andy Whitfield plays Spartacus.
Spartacus has all the makings of an instant hit: violent slaughters that may be too hard for some to stomach, spectacular production value, and, of course, Lucy Lawless.