Month: September 2001

Bashful but nude…

We are pleased to announce that you are cordially invited to get your kit off in the middle of London, sometime in September, with 299 complete strangers, whom you will lay on the floor with while somebody takes a photograph of you. You’ll get a print of the shot for your embarrassment, just like those school line-up ones you’ve got rolled up in the attic, except this is all in the name of art. What am I on about?

Well, controversial photographer, Spencer Tunick, is planning another “large nude performance” in London later this month, sponsored by David Bowie and BowieArt.com among others. Perhaps I should let some excerpts from the press release explain:

“Since 1994, Spencer Tunick has received wide acclaim for his group photographs of hundreds of people lying naked on the ground in public places. He describes these works as performance sculptures through which human bodies form abstract landscapes. Rather than soliciting a confrontational exchange between performers and viewers through a highly stylised composition of naked bodies, Tunick?s naked ?performers? lie in states of passivity which are either haphazard or strictly formal and repetitive.

Last year Spencer won a first amendment lawsuit against the city of New York and was granted permission to stage his large photographic shoots. In May 2001 Tunick received international notoriety when he staged his largest group photographic shoot in Montreal, Canada. Over 2,200 people turned up to participate in the shoot.

For his first UK shoot, Tunick will be looking to enlist over 300 participants. In the tradition of Tunick?s projects of a similar scale, the exact location of the performance will not be disclosed until two weeks before the shoot, which takes place at dawn and lasts for 15 minutes of which the participants will be naked for only 5 minutes. In return for involvement, each participant will receive a special edition print.

?Spencer Tunick ? London? has been made possible by the generous support of Deptford X, Bowieart.com and I-20 Gallery, New York.”

It doesn’t say here whether David intends to fly over to take part in the shoot or not, but if YOU would like to participate, you must RSVP [ASAP] to nudeadriftuk@hotmail.com and the organisers will contact you with date/time/place instructions. In return for posing you will receive a limited edition print of the art event.

BowieNet would love to hear from any member (snigger) that manages to take part in this unique event.

It’s a god-awful small affair, To the girl with the mousy hair…

There are some tickets still available for the final run of ‘From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads’. If you’re interested in catching tonight’s or either of tomorrow’s performances, call this number: 020 8449 0049. If you’re going tonight, we’ll see you there.

If on the other hand you want a quiet night in, you could do worse than tune in to BBC Radio 2 this evening at 20:00 (GMT) for The Kids Are All High. John Peel presents part one of this two-part story of the pop-drug relationship, from rock ‘n roll’s birth in the 1950s, through the psychedelia of the ’60s, to the grunge and heroin chic of the 1990s. No reason why you should expect any mention of David Bowie on such a programme, but it’s probably worth a listen anyhow.

Take a look at today’s Sunday Times magazine, which features a five page spread and some wonderful photographs of Iman. She talks in-depth about her whole life, and there are some lovely quotes about life with David and Alexandria.

Outside office hours, nothing interests her more than domestic life in Chelsea with her new baby… She and Bowie feel they have tasted enough showbiz parties to last a lifetime…. “David is as reliable as the sun. I’m very fiery, but I married a calm, consistent Englishman. I throw plates at him when we row, and he just stands there saying, ‘Darling, shall we discuss this calmly?’…..David is a good daddy. She (Alex) sits on his lap while he’s working at the computer, transfixed by what he’s doing; he swears she’s going to be a singer….. I fell in love with an open, outgoing and hysterically funny guy – every morning with him is like a cabaret”….. The nomadic David’s thoughts have been turning to home, and though she feels little enthusiasm for our (UK) chilly climate, his wife will be at his side if he decamps.

The story about the rest of Iman’s life is also a fascinating taster for her forthcoming book, I Am Iman, which we featured recently in our news (08/10/01 NEWS: NEW IMAN BOOK!).

For those of you outside the UK, the article is also available online, here.

:))