Naked Recreation - A tribute to Amsterdam in voice and body
Naked Recreation is a new, boundary-pushing music performance by Publik Universal Frxnd, created for five nude performers, solo sackbut (the baroque precursor of the trombone), and fifty nude volunteers, staged in the public space of Amsterdam.
The performance explores two inalienable elements that make us human: the body and the voice. Through collective singing, the work traverses moments of harmony and dissonance. Occupying space with naked bodies is a radical gesture—one that exposes vulnerability, demands visibility, and affirms the right to exist differently. Here, nudity is not merely symbolic; it is liberating, confrontational, and profoundly human.
The choral work is interwoven with a modern fairytale, written by the artist, that dramatizes its various references, placing them in the context of our relationship with (our own) nature.
- Date of performance
- September 13, 2025
Location: Homomonument - Start of performance: 16.00
- Duration: 45 mins
The history of Amsterdam
Naked Recreation draws on multiple historical moments from Amsterdam’s past.
In the early 1990s, Mattias Duyves founded Stichting GALA to increase the visibility of the LGBTQIA+ community through events in public space. At the same time, the survival of the Oeverlanden—a well-known gay cruising area on the Nieuwe Meer—came under threat due to urban expansion. Duyves saw cruising as an essential part of queer culture and campaigned actively to preserve this space. His struggle is a central inspiration for this performance.
The work also refers to the Anabaptist Uprising of 1535, when forty religious insurgents stormed Dam Square naked in protest against oppression. Their action, brutally suppressed but historically remembered, is seen as the origin of the Dutch expression “the naked truth.”
Nudity in protest movements is another source of inspiration. In 1969, the feminist group Dolle Mina used the naked body to merge political messages with playful protest, drawing attention to women’s rights.
By weaving these moments together, the performance examines public space as both a place of conflict and a place of constant transformation. In both eras, whether through cruising or rebellion, the naked body unsettles norms. Naked Recreation raises questions of visibility, freedom, and collective memory, deeply rooted in Amsterdam’s tradition of resistance and renewal.
- Team
Concept and performance: Publik Universal Frxnd
Performers: Rex Collins, Sasahara, Avantika Tibrewal, David Whitwell
Curator: Sjoerd Kloosterhuis
Producer: Claire Hermans
With additional expertise from: Claron McFadden and Barnaby Savage