May 17th and 18th, 2008, France will hold its first annual naturist fair at Héliomonde, a nudist club near Paris. Part trade show, many of France’s naturist businesses will have information booths during the fair. The event is organized by “France 4 Naturiste”, a coalition of 11 French clubs, including Euronat.

France is often regarded as a pioneer in nudism, even boasting a nudist city at Cap d’Agde, where anything people do dressed, you can do naked, whether it be going to the bank or the supermarket. French practisioners of the lifestyle are said to number in the millions.

All are welcome to the conference, and access to the grounds is free, although you’re required to register at the fair’s website (link below) before attending. Needless to say, full nudity will be obligatory, as clothing isn’t an option in most of France’s clubs.

Le Salon du Naturisme web site [in French]

New York native Spencer Tunick continues his long term project of photographing massive numbers of nudes in one take, this time taking to the streets of Cork (June 17) and Dublin (June 21), two major cities in Ireland.
Tunick has already started his volunteer model recruitment drive via a website dedicated to the event ((www.spencertunickireland.ie). Public nudity is illegal in Ireland, but the artist usually has no problems getting cities to host and fund his installations, as they’re prestigious events which receive enormous press coverage around the globe.
Tunick will also shoot in Vienna, Austria, on May 11, this time with a football theme in honor of the European championship which will take place in that city in June. Tunick hopes to beat his old record of 18,000 thousand nude participants, as the shoot location will be the Ernest Happel stadium, which has a 50,000 capacity.

More Spencer Tunick stories

MEXICO CITY - A nudist group based in Mexico City claims to have organized a nude visit to the city’s University Museum of Contemporary Art (MUCA), in conjunction with a Spencer Tunick exhibit taking place there. Saturday, November 27, from 7:30 pm through 9 pm, anyone visiting the display of photos Tunick took earlier this year in the city’s renown Zocalo square, will be required to remove all items of clothing except for footwear. One might suspect that this would be used as a publicity stunt, but organizers insist that no media will be present, even though visitors will be allowed to take photos, as long as anyone included in a shot gives his or her consent.

Since Woodstock, nudity seems to be part and parcel of just about any big rock music and/or alternative arts festivals. Most of you have surely heard of The Burning Man festival which takes place every year in the scorching Nevada desert, but few of you are likely to have heard of the Roskilde festival. The hugely popular annual music event is held the first week of July in the town of Roskilde, just outside Copenhagen, Denmark. Since it started in 1971, Roskilde has seen music fans set-up a camp city on the festival grounds. Spontaneous nudity in the camp is quite the norm, and one of the most anticipated events is the naked race, which gets ample coverage by the press.

SAN FRANCISCO - The Tree Spirit Project will hold its next art/eco-activist event November 10, 2007, according to founder and photographer Jack Gescheidt. This time, they will go back to the Memorial Oak Grove in Berkeley, and will count on the participation of SaveOak, another activist group aiming to protect trees from destruction. The poignant nude photography event is meant to coincide with an important University of California Bears football game taking place that day at nearby Memorial stadium, thus maximizing the media attention to the plight of the ancient oak trees found at that location, which are slated to be cut down. Nude model volunteers are asked to register their interest in participating at the Tree Spirit web site.