The Spencer Tunick Experience

This past Saturday, Spencer Tunick was in town, photographing a new installation down by the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame on the 9th St. Pier.

What an experience it was, let me tell you. Words won't do it justice, but I'll try.

The event started in the wee hours of the dawn. We arrived downtown a little bit before 4:00 am and as we edged down towards the 9th St. Pier, we noticed a massive crowd already gathering. You had to have a "permission slip" of sorts to be allowed entrance to the Voinovich Park area, and after we passed muster and were allowed in, we congregated with the masses down at the park.



Weird event #1:

Maura and I (and I specify the two of us and not so much Lyndsey, simply b/c she was in the port-a-pots for most of the beginning of this event) had our own personal stalker. This man started out standing behind us before we came down to the park. And then as we waited for Lynds, he was lurking around behind us again. I thought nothing of it, just kinda figured that we looked fairly normal (yes, laugh away, Patrick) and so he figured he'd position himself nearby. Maura thought it was weird. Then, after we'd moved a couple times only to find him DIRECTLY BEHIND US each time, I realized something was up. We'd move two steps, he'd move two steps, like something outta a Bugs Bunny episode. We tried losing him a couple times, only to have him spring up behind us again like some weird sorta apparition. Finally FINALLY we lost him... I think he heard us commenting on it one too many times and figured it was time to wander off before he got his ass kicked.



Continuing on...

The crowd lingered around the park area until around 5:30, with an occasional burst of directions from some guy with a megaphone. It was an entertaining night of people watching. Maura and Lynds both ran into friends. I saw some guy from high school and managed to avoid seeing him again. I stood around watching people scoping out other people and seeing if perhaps they should position themselves nearby them because either a) they were fairly attractive or b) they looked fairly normal and like they'd actually bathed in the last three days. It was entertaining.

Around 5:30 or 6:00 or so, Spencer Tunick climbed up a ladder and very cutely and nicely barked out orders at us. We were to disrobe and start running towards the cobblestone area of the pier that stretches up and turns into E. 9th when he gave the word. He had to wait until the sunlight was just right before he could start shooting. People stood around expectantly, shifting from foot to foot, dragging nervously on their cigarettes.

And then it was time. DISROBE! DISROBE! the voice shouted from the megaphone. Everyone began scrambling.

The best part was being so concerned with getting all your clothing and shit off that, suddenly, when you finally looked up it was like you were clocked in the face with the vast desert of flesh.

Everyone proceeded to scramble into position.

We managed to get a good spot, up towards the camera and at the very edge of the shot so we could find ourselves once we got a copy of the picture.

Being naked around nearly 3,000 other people was such a fantastic experience. It was like this freakishly oversized bonding experience. Everyone was in the same boat, and everyone was giddy and good-spirited for being in this boat. And it was lots of fun.

There were such a variety of responses to the situation too: the fella standing next to me was super-careful not to let his gaze drift below my chin every time he joked around with me. The fella on the other side could give two shits and let his eyes wander wherever the hell they felt like wandering. People were grinning and giddy and giggling and despite the fact that it was freezing, everyone was warm and happy inside.

Random epiphany #1:

Boys have nice bodies. I've never been a fan of the penis. It's kinda awkward and silly-looking most of the time. But after seeing a multitude of fellas en masse, I think I've been converted. It's still a bit of a silly-looking instrument, but when you look at it as part of a whole, it ain't too shabby.

I also decided that boys have nice asses. They are always so much more square and angular and perty than the ladies.

That being said (and now that I've totally sexualized everyone), I must say that one of the most interesting things about the experience is that the body WASN'T sexualized at all. It was like being little again and running around butt-nekkid. You sorta forgot that these were objects of attraction, objects of sexuality, and just sorta got caught up in the vast diversity of body shapes and sizes and tattoos and whatnot.

Not to say that I didn't think anyone was attractive or anything. There was one foxy-assed fella standing in front of and behind me. But you more or less felt appreciative of EVERYONE's body, being in that kinda situation. You felt like, HEY, LOOK HOW UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL WE ALL ARE.

It was a lovely thing to see.



We took a few different mixed-gender shots, one standing up and facing away from the camera, one with our arms outstretched, and one with everyone lying on their sides. Then everyone scrambled back towards their clothes.

Spencer Tunick then took pictures of all the women and then pictures of all the men. I was not impressed with the shots of the women as they were very similar to the mixed-gender shots.

But the shots of the guys were fantastic. He arranged them in Voinovich park, facing the stadium. In the first shot, he had them all curl up in a ball so only their asses were showing. They looked like a bunch of little tulips. In the second shot, he had them lean on the body of whomever was next to them. Both were fantastic shots and will no doubt turn out nicely.

Not once during the whole experience did I find my lack of sleep catching up with me. It was so invigorating and there was so much to see and experience that it never even crossed my mind.



All in all, it was a fantastic experience and well-worth the lack of sleep. We even managed to break some records as well.

I was glad that I was a part of it all, and hopefully in the next four months, I'll have a nice crisp photo to commemorate this fun-filled nekkid-time to hang on my wall.

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Read some more about it at Organic Mechanic.

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