Educational Media Reviews Online

On June 26, 2004, 2,754 people gathered on Cleveland, Ohio’s East 9th Street Pier and posed nude for artist Spencer Tunick, who has been documenting the nude figure in public through photographs since 1982. This short film documents the Cleveland event, showing the participants disrobing and grouping together in various arrangements, including an all male arrangement, an all female arrangement and a grouping of both sexes.

While the video is tastefully done and interesting to watch, it fails to capture the energy and artistry of the event in a meaningful way. Consisting entirely of live footage, the video is shot well, but lacks having its own artistic presence. As a documentary work, the recording is visually well done, but the director fails to supply any narrative that would enrich and give dimension to Tunick’s concept of having thousands of naked people standing around in a public space. Additionally, there is little dialogue included, except for a brief statement of thanks issued by Tunick at the beginning and a few brief statements made by participants. An overrunning dialogue on how it felt to participate in the event, interviews with the participants, or a narrative on the social, legal, and political issues surrounding art in the public sphere, would have been an interesting addition to the footage.

For fans of Tunick’s work, the film provides an interesting behind-the-scenes look at how this particular event was staged, but the lack of narrative context gives the film little educational value.