The co-founder Herbert Read’s aim for London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts to be an “adult play centre” was fulfilled with a vengeance last night (24 August). A Neo Naturist performance extravaganza captured every bit of the innocent anarchy of the group’s 1980s heyday. A multigenerational troupe of naked participants made their NN debut alongside veterans in a series of elaborate, ritualistic and often hilarious events involving bodies painted as pinstriped bankers and dungareed farmers; sheaves of corn; flagons of beer; proffered plums; and showers of cornflakes and glitter. All this was presided over by the original NN triumvirate of Christine and Jennifer Binnie and Wilma Johnson, who were resplendently painted as corn harvest goddesses.
One of the most notable episodes involved the Binnies and Johnson “giving birth” to a crop of new NN initiates, who emerged, ready painted, from beneath the folds of a bolt of orange fabric. Throughout the increasingly steamy evening, such was the liberating effect of so many unclad bodies of all ages, shapes and sizes, that a number of audience members stripped off and cavorted amongst the throng. The fact that it was London’s hottest night of the year also helped. However, although she was an enthusiastic attendee—and also a major sponsor of the event—the new Serpentine Galleries’ chief executive Yana Peel opted to keep her kit on. But who knows: given Ms Peel’s evident admiration for the NN’s, at the next Serp Summer Party perhaps undressed will be the new dress code?