Tunick nudes collect their prints in the flesh

THEY bared all for art but were fully clothed yesterday as they collected souvenir copies of the photographs taken by world-renowned American artist Spencer Tunick in Cork last year.

The first of almost 1,100 people who stripped off at Blarney Castle as part of the Cork Midsummer Festival began arriving at the city’s Triskel Arts Centre to collect their 8x10 prints.

“I didn’t recognise you with your clothes on,” quipped one participant to another in the queue.

One woman said the photo shoot was an unforgettable experience: “It was a cold morning but you could feel the heat from the bodies. I would do it again but the site is very important – maybe the Burren the next time?”

The photographs were also available to view online at www.tunickireland.com.

The images were to be projected onto a wall in the Triskel’s exhibition space three but, such was the volume of traffic, the site crashed. Triskel staff were working flat-out to fix the problem.

But those downstairs in the reception just wanted to collect their prints and find themselves in the mass of naked humanity. Among them was John Doyle, 51, from Barrack Street, Cork, who lay naked on his back in front of Blarney Castle, holding up a rose.

“I’ve done mad things before but never sober,” he joked. “I did this because it was something completely new and different.”

Guy Brint, from Cork, who posed with his wife, Clare, is a Tunick veteran.

“I posed for Tunick in Newcastle a few years ago. But this was such a lovely setting,” said Mr Brint.

He plans to send his photo to his mum as a present for her 60th birthday.

Ms Brint also posed at the city’s White Street car park and was covered in foam, made in part by Murphy’s stout.

Rosita Kausiute, 28, from Lithuania, and her boy-friend, Uldis Krautmanis, 33, from Latvia, travelled from Waterford to take part.

“Where are we? I think we might need a bigger lens to find ourselves,” said Mr Krautmanis.

Ms Kausiute said they had “been in Ireland for eight years and this was definitely the best thing we’ve done since we arrived here”.

Cork Midsummer Festival director, William Galinsky, said: “We achieved record sign-ups for Cork. We were expecting 400 people. We got 1,100 in Blarney.

“There was a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of good feelings about the thing, and we were lucky with the weather. The feedback has been tremendously positive, and the images are really, really beautiful.”

Meanwhile, this year’s Midsummer Festival kicks off this weekend with the AIB Street Performance World Championships in Fitzgerald’s Park.

The festival runs for 16 days featuring close to 50 acts, with events taking place in venues around Cork city. Highlights include David Holmes, Dance Marathon and the Lucky Seven Cabaret Club in the Irish Examiner Spiegeltent, Corcadorca’s medEia in County Hall and the comedy Midsummer.

* www.corkmidsummer.com