Ulay "appears" in front of Marina Abramović
26/07/2013.
[VIDEO] By Matthew Akers, Jeff Dupre
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
In the retrospective that the MoMA organized in 2010 about the artist's work, and in the performance "The Artist is Present", Marina Abramović met Ulay, his lover and artistic fellow until 1988, after many years. The video we show you today, trailer of the film with the same name of the performance, captures both artsits reaction, and the deep emotional load that the reencounter had for them.
"The Artist is Present" Abramović - Ulay. MoMA
Marina and Ulay in 1980. Image courtesy of Ulay and Marina Abramovic
Portrait of Ulay in 2016. Photography by Primoz Korosec. Image courtesy of the artist.
Ulay and Marina Abramović
"The Artist is Present" Abramović - Ulay. MoMA
"The Artist is Present" Abramović - Ulay. MoMA
"The Artist is Present" Abramović - Ulay. MoMA
"The Artist is Present" Abramović - Ulay. MoMA
"The Artist is Present" Abramović - Ulay. MoMA
"The Artist is Present" Abramović - Ulay. MoMA
"The Artist is Present" Abramović - Ulay. MoMA
"The Artist is Present" Abramović - Ulay. MoMA
"The Artist is Present" Abramović - Ulay. MoMA
Marina Abramović had one of that romances like the one Frida Kahlo and Noguchi had, as we have wrote in METALOCUS before, [One market. One formule. A mural by Isamu Noguchi]. In 1975 she met the german Uwe Laysiepe, also known as Ulay. They realized all the things they had in common as, curiouisly, their birthday. The mystical relationship between both artist got into a series of performances, between which we can stand out "Death self" (1977), where Ulay and Abramović shared the same air in their lungs through the mouth, until they fainted.
In 1988, after years of hate-love and artistic relationship, they decided to end their romance with a great ceremonial act, "The Great Wall Walk"; in opposite ends of the Great Wall of China (Marina in the Yellow Sea, Ulay in the Gobi Desert), they walked more than 2000 km for 90 days, so as to meet in the middle and say goodbye forever.
In 2010, the MoMA organized a retrospective to Serbian artist, in which she developed the performance "The Artist is Present", which allowed visitors to sit in front of Abramović for a minute, and interact with her in face to face. One of the people who assisted and participated in the performance was Ulay himself. In the video, which is a fragment of the film made from the exhibiton material, we can see the reaction of both artists, in front of the audience in, probably, their last performance.
More information
MARINA ABRAMOVIC
Marina Abramović, born in 1946 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, is without question one of the seminal artists of our time. Since the beginning of her career in Yugoslavia during the early 1970s where she attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, Abramovic has pioneered the use of performance as a visual art form. The body has always been both her subject and medium. Exploring the physical and mental limits of her being, she has withstood pain, exhaustion, and danger in the quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. Abramovic's concern is with creating works that ritualize the simple actions of everyday life like lying, sitting, dreaming, and thinking; in effect the manifestation of a unique mental state.
From 1975 until 1988, Abramovic and the German artist Ulay performed together, dealing with relations of duality. After separating in 1988, Abramovic returned to solo performances in 1989. Abramovic has presented her work with performances, sound, photography, video, sculpture, and ‘Transitory Objects for Human and Non Human Use’ in solo exhibitions at major institutions in the U.S. and Europe, and in many large-scale international exhibitions.
Since 2010, she has been working on the foundation of the Marina Abramović Institute (MAI), which will be the artist's legacy and homage to the inmaterial and time-based art. It will be a center for learning and performing about long durational performance.
Also, Marina Abramovic has taught and lectured extensively in Europe and America and, in summer of 2011, she have been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Art Institute in Chicago.
In 2021 she was awarded the Princess of Asturias Award for the Arts for "courage and the avant-garde" in art.
http://marinafilm.com
Frank Uwe Laysiepen. Ulay
Ulay (Solingen, Germany, 1943 - Ljubljana, Slovenia, 02.03.2020). Frank Uwe Laysiepen trained as a photographer and, between 1968 and 1971, worked hard as a consultant for Polaroid. Between 1968 and 1976, he undertook a thematic search to understand the notions of identity and the body both at personal and community level, mainly through series of Polaroid photographs, aphorisms and intimate actions.
From 1976 to 1988 he collaborated with Marina Abramovic in numerous performances. His work focused on questioning the perceived male and female traits and pushing the physical limits of the body.
After his break with Abramovic - who staged in a performance in which each one began to travel the Chinese wall from a point to their meeting, where the break took place -, Ulay focused on photography.
Her reunion rose to fame in 2010, during a work at the MoMA in New York in which Abramovic sat in a chair in a gallery for eight hours a day for attendees to sit in front of her and look her in the eye . When Ulay unexpectedly took a seat, he began to cry and leaned down to grab his hands. That video of the meeting was watched by millions of people on YouTube.
He leaves behind a Foundation in Amsterdam and a project space in Ljubljana, both of which he founded in November of 2020 on the occasion of his 76th birthday. A major retrospective of his work is also due to open at Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in November 2020.
From 1976 to 1988 he collaborated with Marina Abramovic in numerous performances. His work focused on questioning the perceived male and female traits and pushing the physical limits of the body.
After his break with Abramovic - who staged in a performance in which each one began to travel the Chinese wall from a point to their meeting, where the break took place -, Ulay focused on photography.
Her reunion rose to fame in 2010, during a work at the MoMA in New York in which Abramovic sat in a chair in a gallery for eight hours a day for attendees to sit in front of her and look her in the eye . When Ulay unexpectedly took a seat, he began to cry and leaned down to grab his hands. That video of the meeting was watched by millions of people on YouTube.
He leaves behind a Foundation in Amsterdam and a project space in Ljubljana, both of which he founded in November of 2020 on the occasion of his 76th birthday. A major retrospective of his work is also due to open at Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam in November 2020.
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