feature il tempo del postino
The feeling that Parreno and Obrist
give is that ‘Il Tempo del Postino’ aims to
challenge commonsensical ideas of
art – the common sense of the words
‘exhibition’, ‘curator’ and ‘spectator’,
for example
facing page: Koo Jeong-A with Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster
Price’s Fun Palace, a performing-arts centre designed in the Now that Il Tempo del Postino has flown Manchester (it will be
early 1960s, was invoked in the introduction to Il Tempo del Postino, by restaged early next year at Châtelet, in Paris, and then a number of
compère-ventriloquist Jack Johnson. In architectural terms the Fun other venues), the city’s Opera House is pleased to offer the following
Palace would have been both everything and nothing. Everything attractions: Never Forget (‘This fantastic, wildly funny show is packed
because it was to be the nearest thing to a living, breathing building with all your favourite TAKE THAT hits, including the Number
that could flex and grow to fit the ever-changing needs of its users. One smashes Relight My Fire, Pray, Back For Good, Babe and, of
And nothing because it would never settle into the kind of definable, course, Never Forget’); The Puppetry of the Penis (‘a mind-blowing
graspable, mappable form – which is what architecture is supposed to show featuring two strapping Australian men who manipulate their
be all about. genitalia into various shapes, objects and landmarks’); and comedian
If Price was trying to alter the commonsensical notion of a Jim Davidson (‘X-rated and as controversial as ever, Jim Davidson’s
building, then the feeling that Parreno and Obrist give is that Il Tempo new stand-up tour is certain to inflame the PC brigade as he tackles
del Postino aims to challenge commonsensical ideas of art – the all manner of Forbidden subjects’). And perhaps the real question
common sense of the words ‘exhibition’, ‘curator’ and ‘spectator’, for posed by Parreno and Obrist’s production is this: what makes Il Tempo
example. del Postino any different from the above-mentioned entertainments?
And as if to demonstrate that point, any sense of common sense Given that they collectively contain much the same things as Parreno
had clearly flown out the window by the end of Barney’s performance. and Obrist’s exhibition – singing, dancing, X-rated material, etc. – the
Featuring Barney himself dressed as Anubis, with a live dog on answer might be: not a lot. But the fact that this question is being posed
his head, a series of fisting, pissing and shitting women, a group of – and by Barney’s performance more than any other – at a time when
paramilitary banjo players, the ritual embalming of the various organs of art is increasingly defined by institutions (good artists are the ones who
an automobile engine and a bull being encouraged (unsuccessfully) to bring in the crowds) and market forces (good artists are the ones who
copulate with the back end of a car, the effect really was everything and sell for loads of money) is a valuable exercise.
nothing. For the spectator it was rather like flicking through the pages
of an encyclopedia and trying to come up with anything other than a Il Tempo del Postino/Le Facteur Temps will be at the Théâtre Musical
succession of more-or-less random words and images or a cacophony de Paris, Châtelet, from 14 to 16 February 2008. Work by Matthew
of symbols. You felt that it all meant something very clever and precise, Barney is on show at the Serpentine Gallery, London, from 20 September
but had little way of comprehending what that precise thing might be. to 11 November 2007
61 Artreview
Manchester Final.indd 11 13/8/07 14:24:29
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