Thousands of Aussies to strip for photo

SYDNEY - Sydney's Mardi Gras parades are renowned for wild flesh-flashing costumes but next year's festival goers will have even greater cause to strip off.

New York based photographer Spencer Tunick, who has made his name capturing careful arrangements of dozens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of naked people against industrial or urban backdrops, will recreate a mass shoot for the March 2010 Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival.

He is calling on Sydney's heterosexual and gay communities to come together for the communal artwork, named The Base, which will be the artist's first large-scale installation in the harbour city.

Tunick says his work is not about exhibitionism or eroticism. Rather, it's to highlight the vulnerability of life exposed by the stark contrast between the nude human form and the coarse city landscape.

That argument has not impressed authorities in the US, where he has been arrested seven times.

"The base, the core, the heart of any truly free society depend on its acceptance of its diverse community as equal citizens," he said in a statement.

"At the heart of The Base will be an exploration of what it takes to form the basis of an open and harmonious society.

The project is somewhat of a coup for festival organisers.

"Spencer's work will be a jewel in the crown of Mardi Gras 2010," New Mardi Gras CEO Anna McInerney said.

"It has taken over two years to make the project happen and I'm absolutely thrilled that we have Spencer coming to Sydney for Mardi Gras."

The installation will take place on Monday March 1.

- AAP