I was there...and as Chris suggested in an earlier mail, I don't
think it's anything to worry about. Not the concept anyhow - it was
essentially a series of live art/site specific works, on a realtively
grand scale. Tino Seghal's curtains were magical.
I'm not sure how many Daily Telegraph readers were present, but
there's this review, from, clearly, a fan. - http://
www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/07/17/batempo117.xml
Certainly, the psycho-sexual foundations of fundamentalism are not to
be sniffed at! But I don't think Matthew Barney understands cinema
(editing), and I'm not sure he really understands theatre. Because
whatever the intention, what we actually see is women players who
were in turn - dead; 'veiled' in tar by two men, feet trapped in
vaseline, hand up her bottom, which she takes out at the end, and
'defecates'; two veiled women, naked from the waist down, stilettoed,
are required to bend over backwards...
So the women are either dead or piss/shit themselves. The men run
around helping Matthew and doing stuff, and managing the bull. I
already knew that women were oppressed by fundamentalism, and what I
missed was any sense of argument or proposition.
gt
On 19 Jul 2007, at 13:00, Chris Byrne wrote:
> Following up on an earlier thread, here's the 'official' artworld
> reaction to 'Il Tempo del Postino' in Manchester.
>
> 'As tersely reported in Friday’s edition of the Manchester Evening
> News, “People traveled from across the world to see the premiere of
> a bizarre performance art show on stage at the Manchester Opera
> House.”'
>
> www.artforum.com/diary
>
> Did anybody on the list see this? Care to file your own report?
>
> Chris
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