As the sun rises over the salty waters of the Dead Sea this Saturday morning, so
too will about a thousand naked Israelis and tourists between the ages of 18 and
77 – half women, half men.
The southern odyssey will be the culmination
of the highly controversial “Naked Sea” project of American nude installation
designer and photographer-videographer Spencer Tunick, who said he was inspired
by the region’s beauty and was interested in drawing attention to the need to
preserve the body of water.
RELATED:Naked Sea: Israelis ready to get naked for artInitially envisioned by Tunick and his
friend, Tel Aviv resident Ari Fruchter, the project continues to face much
protest against the nudity that the artwork will entail, with particularly vocal
and ongoing criticism from Shas MK Nissim Ze’ev. Tunick has been photographing
and videotaping nude installations since 1992, and since 1994 has designed 75
temporary, site-specific installations all over the world, many of which have
been to promote social causes, according to his website.
The project was
officially launched alongside a Kickstarter fundraising campaign at the end of
April, which reached its fundraising goal of $60,000 by June 6, and to date has
$116,270 with 706 backers, 26 of which gave $1,000 or more, according to the
project’s Kickstarter website.
Amid the controversy surrounding the
installation, reports said the Western Dead Sea Megilot Regional Council decided
on Wednesday to withdraw funding it had promised for the Saturday dawn
event.
In response, lawyer and legal consultant to the project Dafna
Holtz Lachner said such a decision would be up to the High Court of justice to
decide.
“The High Court defends its rulings on the principle of freedom
of expression and freedom of creativity that is derived from it,” Holtz Lachner
said in a statement. “In this artistic project there is an additional prominent
factor of public interest that is central to the project – the protection of
natural resources of the Dead Sea and the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve. The State of
Israel was blessed with the opportunity to host an international artist who is
making the Dead Sea a center of public interest throughout the world and is
providing a one-time opportunity to raise awareness and importance of the Dead
Sea as a first-rate tourist site, which can yield much international attention
and encourage tourism to the state.”
For 25-year-old participant Raffe
Gold taking the trip to the Dead Sea to partake in the installation means
promoting Israel’s unique stance as a liberal democracy in a less-thanfree
region.
“Tunick’s reasons for doing the photo shoot, highlighting the
rapidly dwindling Dead Sea and a variety of other environmental reasons, are
incredibly important,” Gold, a social media manager, said
Thursday.
“However, I am doing it because I believe strongly that Israel
is the only country in the Middle East that could have a mass-nude photo shoot.
This photo shoot is not just about freeing the human body but freeing the human
spirit and allowing us to express ourselves, which is what Israel is meant to
stand for.”