/ 18 August 2002

Nude Adrift: Helsinki residents bare all

Nearly 1 500 people wore nothing but their birthday suits on Sunday at two Helsinki landmarks, as the Finnish capital played host to a US photographer and his project to bare all in the name of art.

Spencer Tunick has gained fame through his photos of masses of nude people in the hearts of cities, ostensibly in an effort to reclaim the public space as an area for humans.

The Nude Adrift project at Helsinki’s Market Place and Esplanade Park was sponsored by a local trend magazine and the capital’s arts museum.

During the photographing some comic relief was offered by a fountain that turned itself on automatically as nude people climbed atop it to pose.

Though he did not run into problems with authorities in Helsinki, Tunick, who has been snapping his photos since the early 1990s, has had several run-ins with US officials trying to put a stop to his enterprise. – Sapa-AFP