Review: Stay Apart Together by Spencer Tunick is a documentary that strips body and soul

In 1994, photographic art took a controversial and unexpected turn in the vision of an artist, Spencer Tunick, a controversial American photographer of Jewish origin. His specialty is photographing masses of naked people at artistic disposal. He obtained a degree in Science from Emerson College in 1988. and has toured Europe and America in pursuit of his art.

Among the most representative installations of his career are:

2001
On May 26, 2001, between 2,500 and 3,000 volunteers gathered at the Place des Arts in Montreal, September 2001 photographed 400 naked volunteers in Greenwich in London.

2003
In June 2003, he photographed 7,000 naked people in Barcelona.

2007
On May 6, 2007, approximately 18,000 people posed for Tunick in the Zócalo, the main square of Mexico City, setting a new record and more than doubling the number of people, surpassing the 7,000 who came in Barcelona.

2009
October 3, 2009, Tunick made another installation this time collaborating with Greenpeace, to draw attention and raise awareness about the effect that climate change is having on French wine production, more than 700 volunteers were photographed in a vineyard near Macon France.

2021
Year in which a new project begins that distances itself from the masses and does so in a more personal way, Stay Apart Together, a project and documentary about what was experienced during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, Tunick reinvents the way he makes his photography to find a way to unite everyone while staying apart and at the same time to commemorate the 15th anniversary of his installation in the Zócalo of Mexico City.

What is the documentary about?

When the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic paralyzes the world, photographer Spencer Tunick reinvents his art to create virtual spaces of connection within isolation and find a way to bring everyone together while staying apart, allowing participants to resist, survive, and heal.

Talking about the controversy that Spencer Tunick has caused over the years is easy, experiencing it is what is interesting, purist and religious groups have been aware of the work he has done and have even expressed their disagreement with this type of artistic expression, the Naked is as natural as breathing can be, it is all in each person’s mind how they see and process an artistic expression like this.

Working remotely using the technological elements that were born from what was happening in the world gives the advantage of being able to do new things, domains, and platforms like Meet and Zoom became indispensable tools for working remotely and from home, Tunick did the same by portraying people from different countries with a unique and more personal vision.

A fundamental element that accompanies Tunick’s work is the work team he has, each one has a specific function that makes the projects successful in their context, doing this long project virtually has changed the way of making art, is not only the use of technological elements but also the planned vision of what you want to do, where to start and where to finish.

Stay Part Together is not just another project in the long list of installations that he has done throughout his career, it is interacting directly with the participants and knowing a little more about them, a more intimate work that reflects that as Human beings live in a moment of extreme vulnerability, apart from this there is nothing else that makes us feel more vulnerable than being naked.

Some can be considered by themselves and strangers as very daring to pose naked in public spaces, there are others who, although they are not, in this case, dared to do it from their homes, living with it one of the most fantastic experiences, it is not only The fact of taking off your clothes and posing is showing yourself as a person, accepting who you are and your beauty, here it doesn’t matter if you are tall or short or your skin color, scars, overweight, age, complexes, fears. , what Tunick has done has been to show a reflection of who we are, far from expensive or simple poses or clothing, it is the person baring their body and soul.

The co-production between Mexico and the United States mixes men and women in approximately 50 shots taken virtually via Zoom, a project that began in March 2020 with an in-person session photographed from his home in New York and recorded in Mexico City on May 2 and 3, 2022, with the Prim Public Project as the venue, which was the closing of the Stay Apart Together project.

For some of the photographic shots, those of us who participated received instructions through a virtual platform to pose with Tunick’s direction to reaffirm the resilience of connection and coexistence in times of isolation, as we well know during this pandemic. It had serious consequences on many levels and implemented a new type of normality in which we are a little more aware of the importance of vaccines and changing hygiene habits to avoid infections.

As a result of this global situation and the health restrictions implemented, it was no longer possible for Spencer Tunick to gather and place his participants in front of his camera, now thanks to this platform he gave us long-distance instructions even in places where he had never been. done an installation, it is obvious to us that not everything is as simple as it seems, synchronizing the computer equipment and being in the indicated pose brought complications of disconnections, of being poorly placed, of everything looking the way Spencer wanted, a job that It requires a lot of time, patience and a lot of willingness.

Global society drastically changed the fact of living together in bars, restaurants, cinemas, theaters, open-air parks, stadiums, and museums to moving to confinement where the way of living changed from in-person to virtual, celebrating everything from birthdays to weddings through the screens of various teams that imposed a new way of coexisting.

All this work was divided into sessions over more than 1 year, at the beginning it had the voluntary participation of people in Mexico, the United States, Poland, South Africa, India, Argentina, Thailand, Canada, the Philippines, Italy, Belgium, Colombia, Germany, China, Japan, Australia and the Netherlands among others, with the closing being in person in Mexico City.

It is noteworthy that not only were there participants who had already been in the 2007 installation but there was also a new generation of volunteers willing to live and be part of this experience, a lot has happened in 15 years and the way of seeing things, Although social networks now play a very important role in connectivity and dissemination, this is something that photographers and artists have adapted to make their works, giving a new twist and direction to what is an artistic evolution.

The call to participate in this project was launched on social networks where an email had to be sent expressing the desire and interest to be part of this unique session. Those of us who were selected received a series of instructions to be executed collectively with the supervision of Spencer Tunick, the message behind this project is to reaffirm resilience, connection, and virtual coexistence in times of isolation that none of us were prepared for, the entire world was not prepared to face a situation like this.

Within the documentary we can see people from different countries in domestic environments such as studies, living rooms, bedrooms, and dining rooms, and in which the participants can be seen hugging their torso, extending their arms, or lying down in different positions on sofas, and beds. and other places that are part of his environment and where Spencer had the opportunity to live together in a more personalized way, and thus be able to reveal the feelings of people in their confinement.

Testimonies from participants who had very significant changes in their lives and their bodies maintain the scars of that, Spencer not only makes an artistic change but also a change in the people he has photographed and who have participated, the perspective, the vision, the acceptance but above all feeling is something that leaves a mark on us to continue evolving and to be able to look at ourselves differently each time, appreciate beauty from different angles as well as in times and experiences, the latter is what participating in events and projects leaves us like this.

As people we are beyond what can be said about each of us, no one knows or has lived under the skin that we inhabit nor have they had our thoughts and feelings, each of us has either through education, culture, and moral principles that Society itself has imposed on us a different way of appreciating things, from the personal to the artistic, people who might seem common to others are the ones who mark a different point in our own life story, facing fears, insecurities, depressions due to following an ideal “model” of what should be done to be accepted in a society that becomes more demanding every day. It is Spencer and his team and we who have made that difference, this makes us neither more nor less than others but makes us unique ourselves.

The bilingual documentary is 21 minutes long and directed by French-Mexican Nicole Vanden Broeck, it excellently captures everything that this project has represented, one more success in her rising career places her as a reliable and honest documentary filmmaker in what she does. Together with Spencer, they have managed to capture every important moment that was experienced during the process, the creativity, and the willingness to show the world that massive nudes are not just that, but are an artistic sample of what the world is experiencing right now.

Without a doubt, this great team has marked a before and after in the way of seeing and projecting things. Along with Tunick and Vanden Broeck are the producers Alonso Gorozpe, Rodrigo García, Fernanda Gómez, Natalia Ruano and Alexis Fridman, Photography by Aníbal Barco, Edited by Alberto Delgado de Ita, the sound design by Daniel Maurer Escobar, the original music composed by Julio César Cruz and Daniel Maurer Escobar and Studio 333 form one of the most innovative and unique experiences in this genre.

Perhaps the only flaw it has is its duration. Although the director does an excellent job, there is still a lot to tell about what is behind such a long project that requires many hours of work, what is done is done, and what we see It is what it is, and despite this the result is fabulous.

The documentary Stay Apart Together was premised at the Guanajuato International Film Festival, at the Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, and now as part of DOCSmx at its 18th Mexico City International Documentary Film Festival.

In conclusion, Stay Apart Together is a photographic/documentary experience made with love, art, and body by one of the most representative artists of our times, this is much more than just a nude, it is the capacity that artists and artists have. people to adapt to a new and more modern world, a work in which people are shown in all their beauty, forming an art that has made and will continue to make history.

Stay Apart Together will be performing at various festivals, for more information about this project there are the Instagram accounts of @spencertunick, @stayaparttogether, @nicolevb, and @studio___333.