Strip off and lie down while you take a photo you say? No problem. Hang on, there’s a thousand other people here. They’re all going to be in the buff? This is art?

The naked form has had a place in the art sphere for as long as art has been made, from Greek urns to Renaissance nudes, but today it has taken on a different form. Spencer Tunick has persuaded thousands of people all over the world to disrobe and pose for photographs which feature hundreds of naked forms prostrate on the cold ground next to each other or forming mountains of bare flesh (see also this ArtsWom article on the subject). It all sounds very bizarre, but the results are absolutely stunning (for a collection of his photographs, try the Naked World site). The individual becomes part of a single skin-like whole in certain pieces, an effect Tunick is proud of. He says that in his art ‘the body is used repetitively as a medium to create a living sculpture to deal with the humanity and the vulnerability of the body, juxtaposed to the public space and the concrete world. It’s not so much sex or sexuality that is involved.’ Read the full interview with Cool Cleveland here.

Tunick has taken his art all over the world, creating over seventy pieces in every continent. He has been arrested five times whilst arranging his subjects in New York, each time his right to freedom of expression has been upheld – it is not an offence to produce naked art in a public place. This Sky Arts documentary (showing Monday 5^th at 12.20am) takes a light-hearted look at Tunick’s five-month trek across the US, where he set out to take a photograph of a nude in every state. Convincing thousands of people to pose for him from the most unlikely of gatherings (a biker rally for one) the artist faces numerous dilemmas, the biggest of these being will any volunteers actually turn up?

Ever been tempted to go au naturel for the sake of art? Share your thoughts with others here.