A group show like I have never seen before that premiered in 2007, Il Tempo del Postino, was created by übercurator Hans Ulrich Obrist and Philippe Parreno as an exhibition where each artist gets a certain period of time as opposed to space. Time is the only rule, after that, anything goes and they have ultimate freedom to create whatever they want. The audience thus goes on a journey of art without moving from their seats. In this sense the audience who usually spends approximately 3 and a half seconds looking at a work of art has fifteen whole minutes with each artist’s creation–allowing ample time for the viewer to absorb and process the work.

This year it was organized by Art Basel, Fondation Beyeler, and Theater Basel and included some of the finest artists of our time. The show opened with Liam Gillick’s work in which a piano on the side of the stage played by itself with snow falling around it. Philippe Parreno’s work came next with an emcee who explained the origins of the title (Postman Time) to the audience while holding a magnifying glass in front of his face that distorted his features. The title has to do with the amount of time someone looks at art and how long one should spend looking at art. Next was one of my favorites, Tino Sehgal whom I have previously written about. His “Untitled” work consisted of the stage curtains dancing to the orchestra’s rhythmic music. Carsten Höller showed video of old experiments in which people wore upside-down glasses throwing their sense of equilibrium off completely. Two people were brought on stage who had been wearing these crazy glasses and the audience saw their response as they removed the glasses for the first time in nine days.

Pierre Huyghe, Yellow beast

Pierre Huyghe, Small beast

Pierre Huyghe then introduced us to two characters who would return two more times during the show–one, a large yellow beast with glowing eyes, and the other a short Teletubby-like creature. They sang happy birthday and blew out candles that kept relighting. Then they both keeled over. Thomas Demand’s work involved the sound of rain linked to the image of rain projected onto a large screen. The next was my favorite work of the entire performance. Anri Sala’s Flutterbytes placed six women in kimonos throughout the theater. Holding neon lit fans they take turns singing an aria from Madame Butterfly, continuing to mouth the words and act emotively when they are not the one singing. The rest of the theater was pitch black and all one could see were the fans fluttering. It was amazingly beautiful and moving. Olafur Eliasson created another winner with Echo House. Bright lights on the edges of a mirror lit up the reflected image of the audience. The orchestra played and mimicked any and every noise that was made by the audience. Once the audience caught on to what was happening, coughs and sneezes turned into hoots and howls and inappropriate noises that culminated in clapping and a furiously frenzied orchestra that ended suddenly in….silence and darkness. Koo Jeong A’s Spy Tree lit up a barely visible single tree whose leaves shimmered behind a curtain while soft music played. Rat and Bear by Fischli and Weiss included two life-sized figures dressed up silently interacting with each other on a small section of the stage.

Bepler and Barney, Guardian of the Veil

Bepler and Barney, Guardian of the Veil

Heading to the lobby for Guardian of the Veil

Jonathan Bepler and Matthew Barney moved the audience into the lobby for their work. The orchestra has dispersed themselves throughout the crowd, performers and viewers became one as the haunting music filled the space.

Intermission included little bottles of Moet champagne. The second act began with members of the audience (who had been previously selected) climbing up on stage to take part in Rikrit Tiravanija and Arto Lindsay’s dinner party called What Are We Doing Here! Huyghe’s 2 beasts then reemerged with tennis rackets as a boy watches a video of the beasts playing tennis on a tv. Another favorite of mine was Tacita Dean’s Merce Cunningham in which Cunningham is videotaped sitting completely still in a chair for the duration of John Cage’s famous work, 4′33″. Douglas Gordon enlists a famous folk singer to do an a capella version of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart while the audience sits in complete darkness. Doug Aitken’s contribution was a real crowd pleaser. In the handle comes up the hammer goes down, auctioneers walk throughout the theater with flashlights as they shout bids at an inhuman pace. As the pace quickens, the light fills a screen on stage that gets brighter and brighter. Huyghe’s beasts return though the yellow one is dead while the “teletubby” brings flowers and three candles are lit to pay homage to his friend. As he walks away, he falls to the floor as well. Trisha Donnelly’s work involves a singing figure with monoliths that fill half of the stage and eventually topple. The performance ended with Dominique Gonzalez Foerster’s work Sol is Going Home in which the orchestra plays Beethoven’s Symphony #6 and as the music continues to be played, one by one each musician gets up and exits the pit and stage. The conductor leaves before the last musician (the bass player) and the look on his face as he is the last one is priceless.

This experience was one unlike any I have had before in all of my art goings on. I enjoyed it thoroughly and would welcome a chance to see something like it in the future. If you ever have the opportunity to experience any rendition of Il Tempo, run don’t walk.