ALICANTE, SPAIN - It’s expected that next Monday (May 19, 2008), the Alicante municipal council will pass a series of new by-laws affecting Playa del Postiguet, the city’s most popular beach. News rules will severely penalize nudity outside of zones where it’s explicitly permitted with fines that could reach into the hundreds, if not thousands of Euros.
Spain’s constitution does not criminalize public nudity, regardless of location, thus it’s doubtful that anyone could be convicted under the new law, but it will certainly result in nudists being harassed and intimidated. It will be interesting to see what the F.E.N (Spanish Naturist Federation) will do to protest this attack on nudists’ rights, since if it’s left unchallenged, it could result in similar rules being adopted by other municipalities.

VERACRUZ, MEXICO - Yesterday, a 34 year-old man visiting from Chiapas state decided to take a dip off Playa Linda in Veracruz, Mexico, wearing only the suit he was born with. As it was a day of national celebration, there were a lot people to witness the incident and it wasn’t long before the man was arrested and led away. He was released later after paying a fine.
It’s worth noting that while there’s a growing number of nudist resorts in Mexico, as well as one legal nude beach (Zipolite, Oaxaca), it’s still a fervently Catholic country where being seen naked in a public place can get you in a heap of trouble.

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.

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The famous American photographer of nude multitudes has said that he hopes to do further artistic installations in both Mexico and Venezuela, two Latin-American countries that were particularly receptive to his ongoing project. Mexico City was the scene of his record photo shoot, involving 18,000 naked volunteers, a number which he doubts he can surpass in the future. On another note, according to statistics compiled after the Mexico event, 65 percent of participants were male, 40 percent were between the ages of 26 and 36, and the vast majority were from the capital region itself.

Tunick has long wanted to do an installation on the massive pyramids of the Teotihuacán ruins near Mexico City, something local authorities have so far resisted. Tunick is still trying hard to convince the country’s National Institute of History and Archeology (INAH) to grant him permission. He believes this could become a reality within three years. A retrospective of Tunick’s body of work, in both photos and short films is currently exhibited in Mexico City’s “Museo de Ciudad” (City Museum), where it will remain until February 28, 2008. Murals of photos as well as videos from his Mexico City photo shoot can also be seen in a gallery of a city university.

Recently, Tunick was also in Caracas for the inauguration of another exhibit of his work in the Museum of Contemporary Art in that city. He told local reporters that he intended to return to Venezuela in the first three months of 2008 for another shoot, this time using the 5 mile (8.6 km) long suspension bridge that spans Lake Maracaibo in the northeast of the country as the backdrop.

PALM SPRINGS, CALIF. - Desert Shadows Resort and Spa, the luxury nudist club that made many headlines for naturism sank under its debt load. Linsu, the company that owns the resort, filed for bankruptcy in Riverside, CA, last Friday. Desert Shadows was a media sensation with such innovations as a bridge across a major thoroughfare, which its patrons could use without getting dressed. Several other clubs are still operating in Palm Springs, a city considered a nudist mecca. Tom Mulhall, owner of the Terra Cotta Inn, reports that his clothing optional club has been receiving many more calls and emails than usual since Friday.