One thousand volunteers braved the cold and stripped naked – in the name of art.

People of all ages, shapes and sizes were photographed by Spencer Tunick at eight landmark locations across Salford and Manchester.

The nude mass gathering was held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Lowry arts centre, with the pictures set to form part of an exhibition at the venue later in the year.

The New York artist has photographed thousands of nude volunteers across the world, most recently at the Sydney Opera House last month.

But he chose chilly Salford and Manchester for his first multiple site installation after being inspired by the works of LS Lowry, who also captured crowds of people in public places – albeit with their clothes on.

The volunteers were taken by heated buses to the secret locations and asked to pose naked for the early morning photoshoots yesterday and today.

The M.E.N. was on hand to capture the action at the iconic Peel Park, Salford.

The site was chosen because LS Lowry painted there and studied at the nearby Salford School of Art.

Tunick, 43, was at the centre of the project, roaring instructions at his participants – who had nothing to protect their modesty – using a microphone.

He asked them to perform a series of poses – ranging from freezes to jumping up and down – before capturing their images.

Speaking at the Peel Park event, he said: "Hopefully it was enjoyable for the participants. I think it went really well. We had a wonderful morning of making artwork around Salford and Manchester.

"I feel like I didn't miss anything – I'm not looking back thinking I missed this or that. The people were here to make interesting artwork to reflect Lowry's paintings – they weren't here to spread a message about nudity."

You need Flash player 8+ and JavaScript enabled to view this video.

460
275
vNYr4QZLgRc
false