“We have to stop the expansion of sinkholes, a phenomenon inflicting widespread ecological destruction, and a danger to life,” she added. “Israel must take responsibility for the destruction of nature over the years, and there is an opportunity for cooperation between countries in the region,” Cohen Paran said, noting that her lobby is currently promoting a number of solutions for the basin, such as increasing the Jordan River’s flow and downsizing the Dead Sea factories. MK Yael Cohen Paran (Zionist Union), chairwoman of the Knesset’s Lobby for Saving the Dead Sea, likewise thanked Tunick for joining in the campaign to preserve the salty basin. “The harm that has been done on all environmental levels has caused damages that are partly irreversible, and for those that still can be fixed – the window of opportunity is narrow and will soon be closed.” “The Dead Sea we once knew doesn’t exist anymore,” Lipchin said. Clive Lipchin, director of the Center for Transboundary Water Management at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, emphasized how Tunick’s visit to the region “will help to raise the topic with decision makers throughout the world, since unfortunately, the Israeli government so far has failed miserably regarding this issue.”

His most recent art installation was “100 Naked Women” at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, protesting against Donald Trump.Īs far as this weekend’s Dead Sea installation is concerned, Israeli environmentalists praised Tunick for his efforts on behalf of the shrinking basin.ĭr.

Tunick has been photographing and videotaping nude installations for twoand- a-half decades, promoting social causes through his artwork all over the world. Nonetheless, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the massive project took place as planned, with about 1,200 Israelis and tourists between the ages of 18 and 77 participating at the time. Tunick’s project five years ago, called “Naked Sea,” initially faced much protest due to the nudist element of his work. While at the Dead Sea over the weekend, Tunick visited the site where he photographed his previous installation, Mineral Beach, which he said had already been destroyed by sinkholes.

“I care deeply about the future of the Dead Sea and hope that my presence and involvement here can propel the Israeli government and local activists to take real measurable action to save the Dead Sea.” “Since 1991, I have traveled the world making immersive art with people of all races, religions and nationalities.īut Israel is a unique place that I hold close to my heart and is the only country in the Middle East where I can be allowed to have proper freedom of expression,” Tunick said. He would like to show his nude multitude floating in the extreme buoyancy of the ultra-saline water, and covered in its famous health-giving black mud.At the installation, the participants posed with their lower bodies below the ground, demonstrating the danger posed to the Dead Sea by the ongoing phenomenon of sinkholes. The artist, who is Jewish, has not yet decided what his Dead Sea installation will feature. Tunick and his eight assistants need $60,000 to pay the logistics costs of an installation and photo shoot in September or October at the lowest point on Earth, where the Dead Sea is drying up at the rate of one metre (three feet) a year. “But it’s the naked body in a public space,” he said, hinting at disapproval of his art in the Jewish state. “It’s very insignificant money,” the artist told a Tel Aviv news conference. His photographs of hundreds of naked men and women of “all religions, shapes and sizes” in locations such as the Sydney Opera House and Switzerland’s Aletsch Glacier have won critical acclaim and attracted fans worldwide. photographer Spencer Tunick talks at a media event in Sydney February 23, 2010.

Dead sea naked models