The Naked World of Spencer Tunick - The Atlantic

The Naked World of Spencer Tunick

For 20 years now, New York-based photographer Spencer Tunick has been creating human art installations all over the world, calling together volunteers by the hundreds or thousands, asking them to remove their clothes, and photographing them in massive groups. His philosophy is that "individuals en masse, without their clothing, grouped together, metamorphose into a new shape." He aims to create an architecture of flesh, where the masses of human bodies blend with the landscape, or juxtapose with architecture. Collected here are images from several of his installations as they were being composed. Warning: The following photos all depict naked human bodies, and are not screened out. The nudity is central to Tunick's art.

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  • Naked volunteers pose for the US photographer Spencer Tunick on the largest glacier in the Alps, Aletsch glacier, in Switzerland, as part of an environmental campaign about global warming near the mountain resort of Bettmeralp, on August 18, 2007.

    Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
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  • Naked volunteers lie on Aletsch glacier, posing for photographer Spencer Tunick as part of an environmental campaign about global warming, on August 18, 2007. The campaign organized by Greenpeace is aimed at drawing attention to melting Alpine glaciers, a clear sign of global warming and man-made climate change according to the organization.

    Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
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  • Naked volunteers stand atop Aletsch glacier, posing for photographer Spencer Tunick as part of an environmental campaign about global warming near the mountain resort of Bettmeralp, on August 18, 2007.

    Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
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  • Naked volunteers stand look toward Aletsch glacier, posing for photographer Spencer Tunick as part of an environmental campaign about global warming on August 18, 2007.

    Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
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  • Photographer Spencer Tunick (clothed) adjusts nude volunteers before shooting photographs of a group of 100 nudes on a rooftop in Barcelona, northeastern Spain, on June 9, 2003.

    AP Photo/Pascual Gorriz
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  • Photographer Spencer Tunick (3rd from left) directs several hundred naked volunteers covered in body paint on the stairs in front of the opera on Max-Joseph-Platz in Munich, on June 23, 2012. Around 1,700 people attended Tunick's latest project in the center of the Bavarian capital.

    AP Photo/Lukas Barth
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  • Some of the hundreds of naked volunteers covered in body paint have touch-ups applied before they pose for a photograph in Max-Joseph-Platz in Munich, on June 23, 2012.

    AP Photo/Lukas Barth
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  • Naked volunteers, numbering around 1700 people, pose for U.S. artist Spencer Tunick in downtown Munich, on June 23, 2012.

    Reuters/Michaela Rehle
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  • Volunteers stand up after being photographed by Spencer Tunick in Max-Joseph-Platz in Munich, on June 23, 2012.

    AP Photo/Lukas Barth
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  • Thousands of naked people posed at Vienna's Ernst-Happel stadium during a massive photo session with Spencer Tunick, on May 11, 2008.

    AP Photo/Ronald Zak
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  • Thousands of people pose in the nude for an installation by Spencer Tunick in Zocalo Square in Mexico City, on May 6, 2007.

    Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
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  • Some of the thousands of volunteers standing naked, embracing in Mexico City's main Zocalo plaza during a massive photo session with Spencer Tunick the in the early hours of May 6, 2007.

    AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills
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  • Thousands of naked women celebrate in Mexico City's Zocalo plaza at the end of the photo session with photographer Spencer Tunick, on May 6, 2007.

    AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills
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  • Thousands of naked volunteers pose for Spencer Tunick in Mexico City's Zocalo square May 6, 2007. According to the organizers, almost 20,000 people took off their clothes for the photo session.

    Reuters/Daniel Aguilar
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  • Logistics personnel direct as thousands of naked people crouch in Mexico City's Zocalo plaza during a massive photo session with Spencer Tunick, on May 6, 2007.

    AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills
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  • Thousands of naked volunteers pose for Spencer Tunick in Mexico City's Zocalo square, on May 6, 2007.

    Reuters/Henry Romero
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  • Four-hundred and fifty unclothed women are arrayed on the floor around the information booth in New York's Grand Central Terminal as they are photographed by artist Spencer Tunick as part of a human art installation, on October 26, 2003. The women - all volunteers - arrived at Grand Central at about 3 a.m., stripped off their clothes, and composed their bodies into sculptural shapes and formations meant to imitate streets, buildings and cityscapes.

    AP Photo/Jennifer Szymaszek
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  • Naked volunteers stand on escalators during New York artist Spencer Tunick's "Be Consumed" installation at Selfridge's department store in London, on April 27, 2003.

    Reuters/John Pryke
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  • Naked volunteers pose for Spencer Tunick in the Europarking building in Amsterdam, on June 3, 2007.

    Reuters/Koen van Weel
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  • Naked volunteers stand on an "invisible" bridge constructed by for photographer Spencer Tunick for a photoshoot in Amsterdam June 3, 2007.

    Reuters/Koen van Weel
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  • Thousands of naked people stand in the Europarking building during a massive photo session with Spencer Tunick in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on June 3, 2007.

    AP Photo/Evert Elzinga
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  • Naked women on bicycles pose on a bridge during a massive photo session with Spencer Tunick in Amsterdam, on June 3, 2007.

    AP Photo/Evert Elzinga
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  • Nude models directed by Spencer Tunick hold bottles in a Bourgogne (Burgundy) vineyard near Macon, France, on October 3, 2009, for a giant photograph during an operation with Greenpeace. The event was organized to call attention on the danger of climate change ahead of negotiations on a global climate treaty in Copenhagen.

    Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images
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  • Volunteer participants pose naked inside the Stadschouwburg theatre in Belgium during a photo session with Spencer Tunick in the northern Belgian city of Bruges.

    Reuters/Peter Maenhoudt
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  • Hundreds of naked volunteers pose nude for an installation for Spencer Tunick at the Ehrenhof museum complex in Duesseldorf, Germany, on August 6, 2006.

    Volker Hartmann/AFP/Getty Images
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  • Naked volunteers kneel on the road during New York artist Spencer Tunick's installation at Montjuich mountain in Barcelona, on June 8, 2003. Around 15,000 volunteers posed naked for Tunick's Body Craze in the street.

    Reuters/Albert Gea
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  • U.S. artist Spencer Tunick photographs naked volunteers in front of the Sydney Opera House, on March 1, 2010.

    Reuters/Tim Wimborne
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  • Naked volunteers pose for Spencer Tunick in front of the Sydney Opera House, on March 1, 2010. Organizers estimated 5,200 people posed for the early morning nude photo installation titled "Mardi Gras: The Base".

    Reuters/Tim Wimborne
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  • Naked volunteers lie in front of the Sydney Opera House, on March 1, 2010, posing for a massive group photo.

    Reuters/Tim Wimborne
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  • Naked volunteers stand in front of the Sydney Opera House for artist Spencer Tunick, on March 1, 2010.

    Reuters/Tim Wimborne
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  • Naked volunteers embrace in front of the Sydney Opera House, on March 1, 2010.

    Reuters/Tim Wimborne
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  • People pose at Lyon's harbor for photographer Spencer Tunick, on September 11, 2005, during the "Biennale de Lyon" modern art event.

    JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK/AFP/Getty Images
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  • Naked volunteers pose for Spencer Tunick at the Museum Kunstpalast in Duesseldorf, on August 6, 2006.

    Reuters/Ina Fassbender
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