Reporter | Chen Jiajing Edit | Zhu Jieshu
According to The Art Newspaper, one of the once-well-known "performance art couples," Marina Abramović's former co-partner Ulay died on March 2 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at the age of 76. In recent years, he has been fighting fiercely with lymphoma, but unfortunately died of complications caused by cancer treatment.
Originally named Frank Uwe Laysiepen, Ulay's name has been tied to Abramovich for most of his fifty-year artistic career. In 1976, Abramovich was invited to do a performance art program for Dutch television, and Ouray was her assistant assigned by the organizers. After the first encounter, they were surprised to find that the two were born on the same day of the same month, as fate had destined, they quickly fell in love, and became the world's most pioneering artistic partners for the next twelve years.
During their love affair, Ulay and Abramović collaborated as lovers to complete a large number of experimental performances, filled with nudity, kissing, violence, pain and hysteria, in order to explore the complexity of the relationship between men and women and the recognition of individual identity. For ordinary people, most of the works of this art couple are chilling. In his 1976 pioneering work Relationships in Space, Ulay and Abramović, naked, trotted toward each other at two points 20 meters apart, bumped into each other's bodies and then returned to the original point, repeating it again and again, faster and faster; in 1980's Potential, Ulay pulled the bowstring and aimed the poisonous arrow at the heart of the bow-wielding Abramovich, and the two maintained a delicate balance in the pull of the force, and either side could lead to death if it missed a hand.
However, one of the two's most prestigious works is also the end of their romance. One day in 1988, Abramović and Ulay climbed the two ends of the Great Wall, one from west to east, the other from east to west, and finally met at Erlang Mountain, completing the sensational international work "Lover's Great Wall" and announcing their parting to the world, because of "differences in artistic concepts and life". After that, Abramovich continued her work, while Ouray seemed to evaporate and disappeared from public view.
In 2010, Abramovich conducted an exhibition called "The Artist is Present" at MoMA in New York, inviting viewers to enter the exhibition hall at any time to confront Abramović, who was sitting motionless on the other side of the long table. What everyone did not expect was that Ulay also came to the scene, and the two people who had been absent for twenty-two years stared at each other with tears in their eyes, and countless people also cheered for their reunion.
However, this romantic legend was soon shattered by a lawsuit. In 2015, Ulay alleged that Abramovich had violated their 1999 contract, and the two went to court over interests. In an interview with The Guardian, Ulay explained: "She is not only a former work partner of mine, but our entire work has made history. Today, the work is even in textbooks. But she deliberately misled everything behind this work, and completely erased my name. In the end, the lawsuit ended in Ulay's victory.
Today, the Slovaks are gone, but as a former soul mate and artistic partner, Ulay is clearly an integral part of Abramovich's life. Abramovich said on Instagram: "Today I am very sad to learn of the death of my friend and former partner Ulay. He was an outstanding artist and will be deeply missed. I am relieved that his art and legacy will be immortalized. ”
In addition, Ouray's gallery Richard Saltoun also expressed his tribute to the artist: "Ouray represents the most free soul – a fundamental and historically unique pioneer and provocateur who works in the field where photography meets concept-oriented performance and body art. His death left a huge chasm in the world, and it is difficult to be easily replaced. ”
It is reported that from November 2020 to April 2021, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, will host Ouray's solo exhibition "Ouray". The museum said in a statement: "Despite his long-term collaboration with Abramovich (1976-88), before that, after that, he also created wonderful avant-garde 'solos'. ”