Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.05.2007, Blaðsíða 12

B6_REYKJAVÍK_GRAPEVINE_ISSUE 06_007_INTERVIEW/ART
New York artist Spencer Tunick is an inter-
nationally acclaimed photographer and per-
formance artist, renowned for his abstract
creations featuring groups of nudes posing in
public spaces around the world. Since early in
the 90s, he’s been documenting massive nude
installations where he gathers volunteers to lie
among thousands of other naked people to
create different shapes and forms, all in the
name of art. Grapevine met Tunick at Gallery
i8 where he is currently exhibiting some of his
most recent works, including photographs he
shot in Iceland a year ago.
You just came back from Mexico, where
you got 18.000 volunteers to pose nude
for the photo shoot, and set a personal
record in the meantime.
Yes, I was in Mexico City a few days ago,
working very hard in making my art. I don’t
really consider this as a record though. I ob-
tained the most amounts of people to create
the largest sculpturally expansive work that
I’ve ever made. I kind of look at it that way.
If I start talking about my work as records,
for me, it takes it down a level, but I totally
understand where you’re coming from. There
were 18,000 Mexicans that showed up. I just
can’t believe it.
That must have been a little bit over-
whelming.
It’s hard to control Mexicans and you really
don’t want to control Mexicans. You want to
give them freedom and then try to work with
them. So this was difficult but wonderful.
When you started this ongoing art-project,
did you expect it to be easy getting thou-
sands of people stripping down for you?
Well, it hasn’t been easy at all. It took me four
years of work to get these 18,000 people. Just
look at a band like the Strokes. They can get
18,000 people to fill up a stadium in a few
hours. To get people naked is lot more work.
Let’s say I did an installation and the Strokes
were helping me organize it, then maybe I
could get 25,000 people.
The photo is just one piece of the whole
performance. What do you like the most:
witnessing how many show up and con-
trolling the event or seeing the final re-
sult, the photograph?
I have to fill up a space that I set out in my
mind so it’s not exciting for me to see if less
people show up. It’s exciting for me to get
the number of people I need to make my
artwork. I love the six-day period when I am
in another country making my work. That’s an
incredible ride. It’s a wonderful experience to
be the organizer and also to be the artist. But
I also love moments when I get to exhibit my
work. These moments are so humbling, so I
think it’s half and half.
When looking at your photos I can’t help
but being reminded how small, isolated
and sometimes vulnerable the human
being is in the big city, surrounded by
giant man-made creations as monuments,
buildings and large bridges. Is that you’re
intention?
In my work I like to approach the vulnerability
of human nature against the anonymity of
public space. At the same time I think the body
sometimes becomes a very powerful element,
a cross between vulnerability and power.
I started this project to try to combine my love
for constructed art and what I love the most,
the human form. I love the human form more
than I love rocks or flowers.
In a way my medium is very wonderful, it
moves quickly, it has legs and can walk away.
It’s a wonderful thing to work with a lot of
people that are like minded, that are open
minded and that are freethinkers.
The reaction to the installations haven’t all
been positive though and not all people
are as open minded as your volunteers.
You’ve been arrested a couple of times
and some people have even had some
difficulties accepting your work as art.
I don’t think many people don’t accept this
as art. People are usually against my work in
general, usually the government, because they
are so used to associating the naked body with
aggression or a crime. But then I just have to
get the right people to whisper in the right
politician’s ear. Often my works happen but
sometimes they don’t happen in locations or
places that I want. Then I just have to flow
through that.
How do you choose your locations?
I’m invited mostly by contemporary museums
and am commissioned by them. I don’t often
have the opportunity to pick a country and say
that I wanna work here and do it by myself
because I need security, police, volunteers and
organizers. It’s a big process, which usually
takes a museum to organize.
You’re again organising a photo shoot
in Iceland. Was it any problem getting
volunteers?
Tomorrow morning (last Saturday) I will do
these individual portraits in Iceland again. I
think it was mentioned in the newspaper that
I was looking for people and there was a nude
image used with that article, but still people
were emailing me thinking that it wasn’t a
nude photo shoot, a lot of models. When I
emailed them back, telling them it was nude
they were like: “Oh, we didn’t know it was
nude”. So I asked myself, what are they doing?
Don’t these models do a little research? But
then I got more than enough people to be
in my individual portrait series and I hope to
exhibit the work near the end of the show.
Have you never considered doing a large
group installation in Iceland?
I need a large infrastructure to do a public
installation. Almost 90% of my work is done
with contemporary art museums. It would
have to be an art festival or a museum that
commissioned me to do it. That hasn’t hap-
pened. No one has approached me. I think
it would be difficult to get Icelandic people
naked en masse, but I would love to work
with around 400 people. I think it would be
beautiful work. I could do one in the city and
one in the nature, one near the hot springs.
You’ll never know.
Can you tell me a little bit about the ex-
hibition at Gallery i8.
I did shots in Iceland for my individual portrait
series, which I’m exhibiting now. Those works
are poetic. The pieces from the other coun-
tries show a different type of my work from a
large mass posing in Chile to a more concept
oriented piece where I separated people with
long dark hair and worked with the reflections
of architecture. I like to be in Iceland now to
exhibit the result of my works as photographs
as for me, an exhibition is a different thing.
This is half of my life. The other half is organiz-
ing the installations. It’s nice to share. That’s
what we artists do. Hopefully people will enjoy
the work and hopefully they will take them
someplace they haven’t been before.
A Cross Between Power and Vulnerability
Text by Steinunn Jakobsdóttir Photo by Skari
I think it would be dif-
ficult to get Icelandic
people naked en masse,
but I would love to work
with around 400 people.
I think it would be beauti-
ful work.
RVK_GV_INFO_REVIEW/DANCE_B7
The French art festival Pourquoi Pas? has brought some
fantastic music, dance and art to Iceland’s shores in the
last couple of months. Pitched as one of the highlights
of the festival, world renowned French hip-hop dance
group the Pockemon Crew performed two shows in
Reykjavík.
The Pockemon Crew began in 1999 when a few
young break-dancers who spent their time dancing in
front of the National Opera in Lyon decided to form a
group. Hoping to reclaim the area outside the building,
but hesitant to evict the dancers, the director of the
Opera invited them inside to work. Since then, Pock-
emon have established themselves as one of the world’s
foremost hip-hop dance groups by winning the 2003
French and World Championships, the 2004 and 2005
European Championships and the World Championships
again last year. With such an impressive portfolio, I was
interested to see what sets them apart.
Pockemon are unique in several ways – not only due
to their pioneering dance moves, but also because of their
adaptability to different genres of stage performance.
Blurring the boundaries between high art and street art,
the group has performed in traditional theatre produc-
tions. This evening’s show combined dance, comedy,
music, video footage and dramatic play.
Known as the “Rois du Break” (Kings of Breakdanc-
ing), Pockemon have succeeded in making hip-hop dance
accessible to a wide audience. My guess is that most
of tonight’s punters had only recently caught on to the
dance craze. The three-quarters filled theatre was mostly
occupied by children – a school group, perhaps.
A dark stage and loud thumping beat provided the
scene for Pockemon’s entrance. As the curtains opened,
a row of lights on the stage floor were illuminated and
the eight dancers, clad in pale blue tracksuits and white
trainers, began their powerful routine. With striking
news footage displayed on the screen behind them,
their intro couldn’t have been more dramatic.
The one hour intense production showcased the
group’s energy, creativity, athleticism and sheer perfec-
tion of dance moves. It is obvious why these guys have
received so much attention, not only within the hip-hop
universe, but also from unsuspecting fans, such as the
crowd on that night who were perhaps curious to take
a look at the City Theatre’s slightly different offering.
The appreciative crowd was responsive and clapped
along to the beat. The atmosphere was somewhat dif-
ferent when political footage – mostly associated with
the war on terror - was projected onto the screen.
The show closed with the words “C’est la vie!”
referring to the earlier footage of them on tour.
Not as many traditional downrock or powermoves,
that are associated with break-dancing, were displayed
as I had expected. But moves such as the flare, windmill,
head spin and various freezes were mixed with French
can-can, cartwheels and somersaults.
Although some complained that they had missed
out on part of the performance by not understanding
the French text on screen, judging by the volume of the
crowd’s cheers they enjoyed it nonetheless.
C’est la vie for Pockemon
Text by Zoë Robert Photo by Skari
Who: The Pockemon Crew
Where: Reykjavík City Theatre
When: May 8, 2007
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