spencer tunick gran canaria nude installation 2026

Spencer Tunick to create nude installation in Gran Canaria

Spencer Tunick brings ‘Gran Spectrum’ to Gran Canaria

American artist Spencer Tunick has chosen Gran Canaria for his next collective nude portrait, set to take place on 26 July. The installation, which will become a piece championing LGBTIQA+ rights, forms part of the Culture Business Pride 2026 programme.

Titled Gran Spectrum, the project has the backing of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria and Turismo de Islas Canarias, and will be staged across two locations: Las Palmas and Maspalomas, according to a statement from the organisers of Culture Business Pride.

A call to action for LGBTIQA+ rights

Internationally renowned for his large-scale nude installations in public spaces, the New York-based photographer will bring together participants from the LGBTIQA+ community, allies, and the general public in a collective composition designed to denounce the growing global regression affecting LGBTIQA+ communities, their visibility and their rights.

According to ILGA World, an association representing LGBTI groups in 170 countries, dozens of nations continue to criminalise same-sex relationships. Meanwhile, debates over LGBTIQA+ rights, gender identity and public representation have intensified worldwide in recent years. In this context, Gran Spectrum is conceived as an artistic call to action driven by Spencer Tunick, aiming to highlight the erosion and vulnerability of LGBTIQA+ rights and representation globally, the Culture Business Pride organisation stresses.

Body as visual language

The work will employ Tunick’s distinctive visual language—large-scale compositions created with the human body in public spaces—to transform participants into an image inspired by the colours of LGBTI flags. “The body becomes a collective visual language,” the organisers said. “The project seeks to generate an image linked to coexistence, equality and freedom of expression at a time when many of these values are increasingly being questioned internationally.”

A global artist with a powerful message

Born in Middletown, New York, in 1967, Tunick has staged installations in more than 100 cities worldwide, including New York, London, Barcelona, Sydney, Amsterdam, Vienna and Mexico City, where he gathered over 18,000 participants in one of the largest collective nude installations ever created. Over more than three decades, his work has evolved beyond photography into a form of large-scale participatory public art that has circulated globally through museums, international media and cultural institutions.

Gran Canaria’s LGBTIQA+ pedigree

Culture Business Pride highlights that the location chosen for this work is central to the project’s message. The Canary Islands, and Gran Canaria in particular, have for decades ranked among the most internationally recognised LGBTIQA+ destinations in Europe, with Maspalomas standing as a key reference point for the community.

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