Spencer Tunick: RISING TIDE

Overview

It isn't just traffic that will bring Brisbane's Story Bridge to a standstill in October 2024. On one Sunday, the famed river crossing is closing to cars to become the site of a new nude photography work instead. Staging spectacular pieces filled with naked participants has long been Spencer Tunick's remit — and the New York-based artist's next River City installation is no different.

Back on Saturday, November 18, 2023, Tunick took to numerous spots along the Brisbane River for a piece called TIDE, which formed part of that year's Melt Festival. Featuring around 150 people posing for the camera, the photography shoot was a prequel for Sunday, October 27, 2024, when the Story Bridge will welcome thousands of folks sans clothes.

Dublin, Spencer Tunick

Tunick initially turned his lens Australia's way in 2001 in Melbourne, when 4500 naked volunteers posed for a pic near Federation Square as part of the 2001 Fringe Festival. Since then, he's also photographed around 5000 nude people in front of the Sydney Opera House during the 2010 Mardi Gras, then returned to Victoria in 2018 shoot over 800 Melburnians in the rooftop carpark of a Prahran Woolworths — and he popped up in the Whitsundays with almost 100 Aussies in 2019, and briefly turned Bondi into a nude beach in 2022.

Elsewhere, Tunick has photographed the public painted red and gold outside Munich's Bavarian State Opera, covered in veils in the Nevada desert and covered in blue in Hull in the UK. The list goes on, with more than 100 temporary installations on his resume since 1992.

Brisbanites, or anyone who's keen to disrobe on the Story Bridge for a new piece of art, can put their hand up to join in — with the call for volunteers open now. And Tunick does indeed mean anyone, because there's no limit to the number of people who can take part. Successful applicants will be informed via email a few weeks prior to the shoot.

Jay Cull