Spencer Tunick invites Hull to strip off

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Spencer Tunick invites Hull to strip off for performance piece | Exhibitionists rejoice. Artist Spencer Tunick, renowned for his large, participatory nude images, is to stage his next spectacle in Hull, marking the city’s status as 2017 European Capital of Culture. Tunick will invite hundreds of Humbersiders to strip off and cover themselves in special make-up designed to evoke the colours of the sea. ‘It intrigues me that in some places where there are major streets or parks today, previously there was water,’ Tunick said of Hull, once a great fishing port. ‘To reflect this I’ll be using body paint so that the massed people create the idea of a sea of humanity flooding the urban landscape.’

Thousands of aboriginal artefacts discovered in Sydney | Construction work on a new section of Sydney’s light rail system has uncovered a treasure trove of some 20,000 aboriginal artefacts under the site of a proposed tram shed, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Experts believe the gargantuan find might point to the site of a ceremonial meeting place, a battle between aboriginal and British colonial forces, or, chillingly, to a massacre. The fact that many of the objects are believed to have originated from the Hunter Valley, some distance from Sydney, may also point to the existence of a previously unknown trading route. Archaeologists and experts have called for an immediate stop to construction work in the area, deeming it a ‘site of state significance’ and suggesting that the density of the find suggests there may be thousands more artefacts buried below the soil. However, Transport for New South Wales, which is responsible for the works, has not yet announced whether it will comply with the request.

NMM director defends photography collection move | Jo Quinton-Tulloch, director of Bradford’s National Media Museum, has appeared before a Bradford Council scrutiny committee to defend the NMM’s decision to send some 400,000 objects from the Royal Photographic Society collection to London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. According to Quinton-Tulloch, the move will make the contents of the collection more publicly accessible, as well as stressing that the museum had decided to narrow its institutional focus due to funding cuts.

Crystal Bridges announces new exhibition space | The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, has announced that it is to begin work on a new exhibition space in a currently disused building that once housed a Kraft Foods plant. According to a press release, the project will provide venues for performance art, music, film, theatre and events linked to an artists-in-residence programme. ‘By creating a space in Bentonville for the continued investigation of art currently being created, we can engage the community in new dialogues, experiences, and opportunities,’ says executive director Rod Bigelow.