A new multimedia exhibition at Marseille’s Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations (Mucem) documents the naked truth of the rise of Europe’s nudist communities from the perspective of a country often characterized as a nudist haven.
And it gets even better than that: For as little as €7 (~$7.64), you can walk through the show, Paradis naturistes, completely naked.
“In all the museums of the world, representations of paradise, of Eve and Adam, never deviate from this image. They live naked, in the state of nature,” Mucem President Pierre-Olivier Costa wrote in a catalog for the exhibition shared with Hyperallergic.
The bold move in the otherwise traditional museum, the first with an exclusive focus on Mediterranean cultures, comes during a year-long celebration at Mucem as it commemorates its 10th anniversary and envisions the next decade.
The nudist exhibition to be enjoyed, sometimes, in the nude, runs through December and is the first show of its kind at Mucem — but the curators of the exhibition argue the practice dates back to Adam and Eve.
In preparation for the double-take-eliciting exhibition, the curators met with nudist communities in search of artifacts that spoke to their way of life, such as nudist magazine covers, nude paintings, and advertisements.
The curators wanted to highlight a more nuanced aspect of life in the nude: its link to vegetarianism and care for the environment.
“Advocating frugality, moderate energy use, and natural and sustainable health, naturism defends territories, local cultures, and body ecology. France, due to its geographical location and temperate climate, is today the leading tourist destination in Europe for naturists,” writes French philosopher Bernard Andrieu, one of the curators of the exhibition, noting that 40% of nudists in the country are Dutch and German.
The exhibition displays artifacts showing nudist life in seven hotspot sites, including locations in France, South Africa, and Switzerland, from depictions of Adam and Eve all the way to contemporary feminist nudity.
While the show is largely photo-heavy, posters and other signage touting the benefits of nudist life — including a 1930s advertisement positing nudism as a cure for cancer and capitalism — can also be enjoyed by both naked and clothed audiences.
French nudist groups partnered with Mucem to host tours in the nude on August 20, September 3, and October 11, but on all other days of the exhibition, clothes are required.
