Naked mass serenaded by homeless guy singing Oasis on poppers. Phil Worthington takes us through the joys of group public nakedness.
Phil Worthington is the perfect gentleman. Well spoken, charming, and a man of the modern world. So modern he chose to stand naked in a park, alongside 499 other respectable members of the public, all in the name of art.
I refer, of course, to the work of international artist, Spencer Tunick. The distinct style of the acclaimed photographer and filmmaker is defined by his use of naked bodies (sometimes running into the thousands) aligned around landscapes and buildings. Before you conjure up any ideas of mass orgies, Tunick consciously sucks the ‘sexy’ right out of his images. Yet he leaves a seductive composition by organizing his subject’s en mass to highlight definitive shapes in the landscape. Spencer’s bio reads ‘The individual en masse without their clothing, grouped together metamorphose into new shape.’
Tunick is more accustomed to commissions that send him to the sizzling heat of Sao Paulo’s Biennial or the cultural climax of Barcelona’s Institut Cultura. This time it is the Lowry Gallery that brings Spencer to sunny Salford. Celebrating their 10th anniversary of ‘creative excellence’ the Lowry decided to do something to shock and astound. So they hired New York based artist, Tunick, gave him 1000 naked volunteers for the weekend and dropped him off in Salford.
This is how our modern man, Phil Worthington, came to be standing in Peel Park, bearing all, one fine Saturday morning. What we all want to know is – what possessed him? Phil explains “I got introduced to the idea by my housemate who was also going to do it with me … I went on to the website and had put my name down before I’d even thought about the ramifications of getting naked with 500 people.” Although Phil’s housemate did not end up doing it with him, he still decided to pursue the idea; “I just wanted to get involved with something that could be immortal and …. It’s going to be a bit of art in history and I’m going to be part of that, but it was also that I have a strong connection with Salford.”
Phil has some very romantic notions about the whole idea, and is obviously a man who sticks to his word. Yet, unless you’re a child or you’ve had a sambuca-fueled night, the sheer thought of being naked in unforgiving broad daylight is most people’s nightmare of all nightmares. So how did Tunick’s volunteers deal with it? Apparently it was little bit of the “100th monkey syndrome”, Phil explains the instructions; “take your dressing gown, we’ll go to the first site, and we’ll get naked. So everyone was just waiting for the word and then when he [Tunnick] said it, I didn’t hear because it was too far away, I only knew from everyone else getting naked.” Phil describes how the pinnacle of urgency came when, “ I was umming and ahhing a little bit, but everyone was half naked by the time I started to get undressed so I was like ‘I need to start getting undressed’.
Shedding his clothes for the first time was apparently the worst part of it, but like most things it’s just a matter of practice. When probed about how he felt before his first public appearance, he replies “sh*tt*ng myself,” mainly due to the fact that “we we’re on the bus in front of a travelers site and we we’re like ‘your seriously going to ask us to get naked in front all these gypsies?”. All travelers aside, the anxiousness was cast aside with his clothes as soon as he de-robed. He recalls, “ The minute I started to get undressed I started to enjoy it…we had to run down this grass bank in to a park with beautiful trees …and I felt like a kid, I felt like a 12 year old just running around not a care in the world. It was really good fun, it was kind of giggly” Apparently there’s no room for happy faces, “your not allowed to smile he [Tunick] doesn’t like, that so everyone had to cut the smiles off their faces after a while”.
Tunick’s art is not without its critics, one man walking past as the events unfolded eloquently put it, “your just a pervert mate.” The theme of play and freedom through nudity is often misunderstood for sexual deviancy. However Tunick’s work manages to challenge our western preconceptions about wearing our birthday suit out and about. Not only for observers but also for people taking part. Phil’s preconceptions were truly transformed throughout the creative process, “ I thought, I was going to be uncomfortable with the fact that I was in front of a load of naked people and trying not to look at those naked people. But when it happened it was the least sexual experience I’ve ever had in my life.…. apart from most of the people were overweight and grey it was beautiful, it normalized nudity in a way that I never thought possible... And until you experience it I don’t think you can get a grasp of how normal it is to do that.… nudity is so hyped up …. It is this stigma, this taboo which is being naked. I think to have that experience is the only way of finding out that, yeah it is normal, it’s much more normal than people think it is?
Just as Phil starts to make the whole experience sound quite liberating and appealing he mentions, “my biggest beef of the whole day, it wasn’t how long I had to be naked for, it wasn’t the fact that my willy was turning blue, it was- “ he pauses, and with a pained face he whimpers, “it was so cold and the floor was even colder and you weren’t wearing any shoes and the cold was coming up through, and it just wasn’t comfortable.” In contrast to the first time, “you’re filled with adrenalin, which kind of warms you up a bit. But towards the end when it got slightly more mundane and normal you just really felt the cold.”
For all their pains volunteers get a large print of Tunick’s favourite photo of the day for which Phil has plans to put up on his wall and invite people to play ‘Where’s Wally’. On a personal level Phil has taken away two things , “It made me much more comfortable being naked…. reduced any paranoia and preconceptions about how your supposed to react in front of other people who are naked “ and secondly, “it also gave anyone who was involved the opportunity to see just how diverse naked people are, there wasn’t any one person that was the same shape, colour, or size.…..you have this idea in your head of what nakedness should be, through magazines and the rest of it, and it’s just not true. ….It was really good to see that”
Another souvenir is the stories of the eventful happenings and characters that coloured the day. Phil’s favorite was a homeless guy who woke up, and proceeded to sniff poppers and serenade the naked mass with Oasis songs, whilst being restrained by a police officer out of shot. Phil imitated Spencer “’Do not react. Do not react. Do not smile,’” At which point the homeless man asked, “anyone got any change?”
Although Tunick managed to convince 1000 stiff upper lip Brits to change their preconceptions about nudity he has still to work on the rest of Britain. When asked if his parents were proud Phil’s reply echoes that of someone holding a shameful secret,
“My parents! I haven’t spoke to my dad about it I told my mum and the only thing she could find to say was that she has to keep the family from knowing. She has to hide it. I think she finds it quite amusing but my Gran would have a heart attack, literally”
It’s best just to be honest Phil, it’s only a matter of time before they find out the truth.
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Get down to the Exhibtion Everyday People, on at the Lowry from 12th June – 26th September 2010
Unfortunately Quda will not be handing out invitations to Phil’s private viewing to play ‘Where’s Whally?’ With his personal copy of Tunicks print, but your welcome to comment on your views of nudity and art on the QUDA Blog….
