ART BASEL

Evidently the hottest ticket in the Art world was the one to last nights opening of “Il Tempo del Postino” at the Basel Theartre.  It’s no small accomplishment to make a splash this big at the Art Festival of Basel.  Art Basel is very prestigious and just a little over whelming.  The entire town turns “arty” for the duration.  Every possible space is turned into a gallery or installation or performance art space of some kind.  There is even a Cathedral next to the theatre that turns into a gothic performance space at night complete with bar service.  They push back the pews cover the stain glass of Jesus with a large canvas and bath the entire sanctuary in an “abseinth-green” light. The metal music pulses  and animates the bell tower to the beat. For a few days leading up to the Festival opening, we watched a warehouse near the train station turn into a very gothic installation called Volta.   In most cases if the actual exhibit lives up to the poster advertising it you have a winner.

Brad Pit was discovered and photographed attending the Festival of Art Basel making arrangements to have the million-dollar painting he purchased here sent to his New Orleans home.  But the real story is the number of art-world super stars that are here, the very people Brad Pit is willing to shell out a million to. Unless you are in that world you would not necessarily know them, but they have very dedicated and loyal fans.  We have the A list participating in the show.

Speaking of the show, it has really pulled together since its inception two years ago.  As with anything it becomes easier to do the second time around than the first. Things have grown and changed for the better and in some cases for the stranger.  The Matthew Barney piece, which occupied the entire second act last time with the bull, wrecked car and urinating naked ladies, is gone. Matthew doesn’t repeat concepts. I understand the car was shredded and cut into scrap metal as a performance piece some time after Manchester.  I hope he saved the naked ladies.  Some of the pieces in “Il Tempo” that needed explanation have now been clarified.  A few of the artists have opted to do different pieces, which now need explanation.  There are some stunning moments like the Auctioneers, The Butterflies, and the dancing curtain but there are an equal number of “pregnant pauses.” It seems that artists don’t mind a dead stage and an awkward silence, making the audience uncomfortable is sometimes even encouraged.  But for the art fans who have come to the show a silence is only extra time to be in the presence of the adored.

 The theatre complex is huge. Although our auditorium is only about a thousand seats the fly space is five stories high and the depth of the stage almost equals Radio City Music Hall. I have gotten lost several times on my way to the stage.  If it wasn’t such a modern building I could believe there is some masked genius Phantom living in the bowels. There are three other theatres contained in the massive building and I am told that they present more than 700 shows a year between them, which is several a day in some cases.  There is even a commissary/restaurant for the crew and staff with a long balcony that overlooks the city below.  More about the theatre, more about the Swiss, and more about the show in up coming blogs. 

(NOTE: As I logged into my blog to publish I discovered my remote internet was all in Swiss German. I navigated by rote through buttons with unfamiliar words.  I feel very uneducated here as everyone here in Basel speaks at least three different languages. There is a computer in the green room of the theatre, but it is a french/dutch keyboard. It is impossible for a semi literate like myself to type on.)

As you were,

Jay