About 200 art world notables came from galleries in New York and museums in L.A. to Detroit to witness and participate in "Khu," part two of Matthew Barney's epic multi-location staged performance,
Ancient Evenings.
The day-long adventure included an aria performed at an abandoned glue factory on the Rouge River, a trip on a barge in the rain, tugboats carrying a brass section, a helicopter buzzing -- with the audience having the peculiar experience of being extras in the production. The grand finale? Witnessing molten steel erupting from another abandoned plant.
Excerpt:
Barney's opera, as Hart called it, is based on Norman Mailer's s nearly unreadable and sometimes obscene 1983 novel of the same name, which involves ancient Egyptian burial practices and the gods Isis and Osiris. In Barney and Bepler's telling, "Khu" is a crime story featuring the double-amputee athlete Aimee Mullins as an FBI gumshoe named Isis and a 1967 Chrysler Crown Imperial as Osiris.
The artist was nowhere in sight -- he was directing from a trailer behind two Port-O-Sans -- but Björk was there, huddled against the increasing chill in a sleeping-bag coat, the only one aboard dressed for the weather. "I'm from Iceland," she shrugged.
See the pictures and read more about "Khu"
here.
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