Naked Australians At Sydney Opera House: 5,200 Strip Down For Spencer Tunick Photo Shoot, 'Mardis Gras: The Base' (PHOTOS) (NSFW)

SYDNEY (Associated Press) -- About 5,200 naked people have embraced each other on the steps of Sydney's iconic Opera House for a photo shoot by Spencer Tunick.

Tunick, who is known for his nude group photos in public spaces, posed participants for more than an hour in a variety of positions Monday.

"It was difficult to get the straight participants to embrace the gay participants and vice versa," Tunick said. "So I was very happy that that last set up finally got done and everyone came together (in a) united, friendly kiss, a loving kiss in front of this great structure."

Nineteen-year-old student Art Rush said he was thrilled to participate.

"I'll never get a chance to do this again, it's not worth being inhibited," Rush said. "It doesn't feel sexual, it just feels tribal, a gathering of humanity."

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Nude people raise their hands as they gather on the steps of the Sydney Opera House as they pose for a photo by Spencer Tunick of the U.S. , Monday, March 1, 2010. 5,200 people stripped off for the commissioned photo that is title "Mardis Gras: The Base." (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

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Nude people raise their hands as they gather on the steps of the Sydney Opera House as they pose for a photo by Spencer Tunick of the U.S. , Monday, March 1, 2010. 5,200 people stripped off for the commissioned photo that is title "Mardis Gras: The Base." (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

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Ugh Stunning

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Comments

[BebeLush]

10:51 AM on 03/03/2010

Naked is the new black. Let's hope this catches on every where!

[bismillah001]

07:29 AM on 03/03/2010

I'm waiting to see some youtube tro||s start posting "FAKE and GAY" under stories like this.. lol

[prussianmick]

11:14 PM on 03/02/2010

White people sure can look like crap naked after they hit middle age.

[AtheistUS]

12:26 AM on 03/03/2010

Great artists have been always founding beauty in human body, young or old.

[ForeverXL]

07:08 AM on 03/03/2010

Why the need to be rac|st?

[pascaljim]

08:38 PM on 03/02/2010

Pass thru airport security easily....new approach...indeed......

[HoraceOvidson]

08:04 PM on 03/02/2010

I guess this gives new meaning to the phrase "down under.'

[randolph thomas]

08:07 AM on 03/02/2010

The power of art can be its surprise. The power of a good joke is the surprise, the kicker. What is the difference in this work and a joke?

[Itsmyland2]

07:55 AM on 03/02/2010

More like NSFME (Not safe for my eyes). There are a lot of people in the photos who should not be nekkid in public

[Whinger]

07:32 AM on 03/02/2010

What in the heck is Oz coming to, this is supposed to be art?

Only the naked ape would dream up something like this!

[NANANACHMAN]

11:02 AM on 03/02/2010

His been at it a long time..................................did something similar at Burning Man in the 1990`s

[nikau nikau]

07:31 AM on 03/02/2010

Why is it only considered art if thousands of people get naked at once?

I wonder when society will re-mature enough to stop thinking that nudity = sex?

[Scalawag]

08:00 PM on 03/02/2010

When it stops giving me wood.

I'm teasing. Maybe in a hundred years or 2.

[HoraceOvidson]

01:49 PM on 03/03/2010

Folks who believe society can mature should receive a free nuggie, at government expense.

[Angelaaaa]

04:34 AM on 03/02/2010

Foreign and domestic politics would be a different matter altogether if all political business was conducted in ... the altogether. Naked Congressional sittings ... the G7 would end up a G3.5 (shrinkage) ... if we all flew naked - no controversial scans ... nude political debates with glass lecturns ...

Best way to combat obesity in the First World I can think of.

[alvin12]

03:45 AM on 03/02/2010

Who gets to stand on the first row?

[Diver992]

03:06 AM on 03/02/2010

Pure gimmick passing as art...

[barrycourage]

01:40 AM on 03/02/2010

Tunick has done some truly creative work in the past. But these pics are uninspired and morbid.

They remind me of all of those horrible shots of concentration camp survivors and victims--hands raised in the air in a surrendering manner, piles of bodies...

This is Tunick just being Tunick without having something to say.

Yuck.

[opprobrious]

02:33 AM on 03/02/2010

Yet his work has managed to elicit a response.

[nikau nikau]

07:48 AM on 03/02/2010

I agree, the nudity is just uncomfortable here, if it were people running, swimming or doing other natural activities it would be more interesting.

Forcing un-natural crap into our mouth hardly helps, being fat and wobbly is unnatural for humans.

[slobone]

10:09 PM on 03/01/2010

I don't think it's safe to see that anywhere. Ugh....

[Skygazer]

09:25 PM on 03/01/2010

I can't see any boobage. How boring.

[Gunfighter]

06:39 AM on 03/02/2010

Well, there you go. Boiling it right down to the elementals. If there were more boobage, for better or worse, there would have been more of a reaction.