AUSTRIA: 1,800 people naked pose for mass photo for artist-photographer Spencer Tunick at Vienna's football stadium

Record ID: 591712

  • Title: AUSTRIA: 1,800 people naked pose for mass photo for artist-photographer Spencer Tunick at Vienna's football stadium
  • Date: 16th May 2008
  • Summary: (L!1) VIENNA, AUSTRIA (MAY 11, 2008) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WAITING TO GET INTO STADIUM MAN REGISTERING TO PARTICIPATE IN SPENCER TUNICK'S EVENT FATHER AND SON LYING ON GRASS NEXT TO THEIR BICYCLES LOOKING AT PEOPLE WHO ARE WAITING TO GET INTO STADIUM (SOUNDBITE) (German) STEPHANIE SAYING: "It's crazy. I waited for two years for him to finally come to Vienna and finally he is here". (SOUNDBITE) (German) ROLAND MITTENDORFER SAYING: "I heard about if from someone and I thought it would be a fun thing to do. AUDIO OF REPORTER ASKING: What do you expect to happen from all this? ROLAND SAYING: "I don't know but I expect something totally different from anything I have ever done before and the most important thing is to take part". ELDERLY MAN LOOKING AS PEOPLE ENTER STADIUM WIDE OF STADIUM WITH PEOPLE, AUDIO OF TUNICH SPENCER VOICE SAYING: Thank you for coming. GROUP OF PEOPLE UNDRESSING WIDE OF STADIUM WITH NAKED PEOPLE ON THEIR POSITIONS GROUP OF NAKED PEOPLE AND PHOTOGRAPHER TAKING PICTURES SPENCER TUNICK TAKING PHOTOGRAPH OF PEOPLE
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Austria
  • Country: Austria
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVACW46KKQCJJ90RG6DQHNGT2JY7
  • Story Text: The Vienna stadium that will host the Euro 2008 soccer final saw a very different kind of crowd in it's stands when around 1,800 people stripped naked for U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick on Sunday (May 11).
    Tunick, who regularly stages such mass nude events, arranged his subjects in the coloured seats of the venue, having been told by organisers the grass was too precious because of the upcoming tournament.
    He spoke to his models over the public address system, telling the men and women to spread out in sections of the stands and strike different poses. He told them not to smile or laugh and to remove sunglasses.

    "It's crazy. I waited for two years for him to finally come to Vienna and finally he is here", Stephanie, young Viennese told Reuters.
    Roland Mitterdorfer from Styria who drove for more than two hours said taking part in Tunick's event was something totally different than anything he had ever done before.
    Naked volunteers came from all parts of Austria as well as from Germany and other neighbouring countries.
    The stadium will stage seven matches of the Euro 2008 soccer championship, being jointly hosted by Switzerland and Austria next month, including the final on June 29.
    Sponsors of Tunick's event includeD a body promoting the soccer festival and Austrian railways, which gave participants free tickets.
    All those taking part were volunteers and would get a limited edition copy of the photos after they will be displayed in Vienna's art gale in June.

    "This very special ephemeral installation that we are inviting you to be part of is devised to capture and combine the spirit of sports, the grand sweeping waves of stadium architecture and the abstract relation of the human form to modern structures," Tunick said on his website.
    One of Tunick's latest stunts was on a Swiss glacier, where 600 people stripped off in temperatures of about 10 Celsius (50 F) last August.
    His biggest was last year in Mexico City with 18,000 people.
    The next after Vienna are planned for Cork, Ireland, on June 17 and Dublin on June 21.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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