Spencer Tunick installation, Ninth Street Pier 6/26
Well..what can be said apart from "Go Cleveland"! It turned out that Cleveland created a bit of history today in being the first US city to have worked directly with Spencer Tunick in staging a shoot. And the turnout certainly did the city proud with, I heard a count from Spencer, of approx 2700 folks showing up. I'd been involved in the impromptu shoot earlier in the year during the MOCA opening night where Spencer gathered 15 or so of us for a series of photos on the bar pool table. The main shoot in January had to be cancelled as no Cleveland venue that was approached by MOCA and Spencer were willing to host the gig. So this one was the big one courtesy of the Cleveland Port Authority. The shoot went off without a hitch...folks gathered from 4:00AM onwards...after a couple of hours of waiting the light was finally just right..."OK everyone...1,2,3...as they say in Australia...get your kit off..." I'm sure everyone in the initial moments of undressing felt very self-concious but that sensation was soon replaced by "in for a penny, in for pound." There's something very liberating about standing there in the buff surrounded by many like-minded souls. Every body type must have been there from the young through to the old, the skinny to the large, athletic through to folks aided by walking sticks. Under instruction we set off to the first shoot where folks stood from the end of East 9th Street Pier all the way up to the Rt. 2 intersection. It was brilliant to look and see people standing there, and get a feel for how many folks had actually turned up. There was a sense of rebellion against the social norms... after all this isn't an everyday occurance in the U.S. The main shoot consisted of everyone standing there, arms by their sides, facing up East 9th towards the city as theough they had emerged from the lake, really hoping that photo came out well. This was soon followed by everyone laying on their sides...Spencer was working as expeditiously as possible as he appreciated the cool temperatures in which the shoot was being undertaken. Alas, the next series of shoots that he had in mind had to be cancelled owing to the sunlight not being what he wanted with large shadows being cast across the park. So he divided the crowd by gender with the ladies having the next shoot in the shadow of the Mather. Two main poses - the ladies laying on their sides and then looking towards him. A trio of older gentlemen were onlooking from onboard the Mather - I'm sure they appreciated the view. This was followed by the men facing towards the city with the Browns stadium in background, with the guys curled up in to a ball accompanied by much cheering from the ladies gathered. The next pose was "getting close" to your fellow man where you had to lay your head on the back or legs of the guy next to you...which made for some interesting quips. The final shoot was the men laying on their backs for the final expose, which again was well received by the female congregation. The end of the shoot had everyone leaving with big grins on their faces and, "Well that was fun," "Same time next week?" etc. etc. The media was out in force with photographers, reporters and camera crews recording the whole event...with the occasional fly by of the tv helicopter. All aspects of the reasoning behind the shoot went through ones mind from...is this really art? Wow, this is liberating? Where does art end and eroticism start? What is the purpose of clothes? Censorship?... Walking to and from the shoots had me thinking of those unfortunate souls marching to the Nazi gas chambers. Overall it was a resounding success. Thankfully someone in Cleveland understood what the shoot was hoping to achieve and were willing to allow access to the pier - a location which made perfect sense in ensuring that the only people gathered were the participants - onlookers were kept at bay - although questions were raised as to why the media weren't in the buff also. Thanks are due to the Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art, The Cleveland Port Authority, Spencer Tunick for pursuing the whole venture and most importantly to everyone that showed up. It was a great event that I'm sure will be the talk of the town. It Was Fun. Looking forward to seeing the results in August. from Cool Cleveland reader Brian Asquith http://www.britishbrian.com (:divend:)