Glue: The Complete Story of Marina and Ulay

A V I TAL B ON D B E T W E E N AR T I ST S

The Complete Story of Performance Artists Marina and Ulay

MiKayla Thomas

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any couples meet in college, at an event maybe,

was unlike anyone she had ever met. He tied his hair up in

or through mutual friends. They may learn

chopsticks the same way she did, he was tall and skinny,

about the other’s interests and values, gradually

and his face was split into two identities. One half was rough

finding commonalities between themselves. Few have a

and stubbly, and the other clean shaven with light makeup

connection as strong and powerful as Marina Abramović

and a perfectly plucked eyebrow. A woman on one side, a

and Ulay (Frank Uwe Laysiepen).

man on the other. This fascinated Marina, a young woman from a conservative family in Yugoslavia. This interest

Marina traveled to Amsterdam for a performance, and was

only grew in the days to come, as the two realized they had

greated the owner of the gallery that had invited her to

commonalities that were unexplainable expect by the belief

perform, and Ulay. Ulay was to be her guide throughout

in fate. It was more than pure chance these two had met.

the trip, and she was immediately intrigued by him. He

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Marina and Ulay, 1977

Marina and Ulay, 1977

Marina and Ulay, 196

MORE THAN PURE CHANCE T WO WOR LDS C OLLI DE WI TH U N DEN I AB LE C ON N EC TION

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arina Abramović and Uwe Laysiepen (Ulay) share the same birthdate of November 30, born in 1946 and 1943, respectively. They

met on November 30, 1975, their shared birthday, and they immediately embarked as a collaborative duo.7 The artistic partnership that emerged simultaneously with their romantic relationship was utilized to allow Marina and Ulay to explore the inner workings of these pairings. Their twelve-year collaboration resulted in numerous iconic performances that ultimately reinforced prescribed gender norms as opposed to reimaging them. Through intense physical and mental exercises/ performances, Marina and Ulay’s work together aimed to create a self-described unified, hermaphroditic self.

This chapter will analyze their personal biographies and selected works throughout their collaborative career that are most representative of this gendered hybridity, successful or unsuccessful. Both Ulay and Marina were successful artists in their own right before they began collaborating, Ulay as a German performance artist and photographer, and Marina, as a Serbian performance artist in the former Yugoslavia. Ulay ‘s solo work as a performer and experimental photographer involved an obsessive exploration of aspects of identity and gender, where his own self-image and body were his materials.

For two years in his daily life, Ulay wore drag, living and documenting the world of transvestites and transsexuals, or wearing half drag, existing as part female, part male, which is how he appeared when he met Marina.

8 Marina also used her body as her primary medium of choice. Her early performances experimented with physical limitations and thresholds, as both an artist and a female. She often performed nude, and would cause bodily harm to herself, or let others do so. For example, in Rhythm 0, 1975 she presented herself as a passive, stereotypical female figure to the audience. Marina allowed the audience to use her body as an unresisting object, in any way they desired, including stripping her, inflicting sexual assaults, and physical violence.

The pair decided to form a metaphysical hermaphroditic

focused performances in which each of them was thrown

collective being upon embarking on their relationship

back both on his or her own patience and endurance and

and collaboration. Hermaphroditism can be described

on the supportive partnership with which they faced the

as an intersex condition in which an individual possess-

world together.” Talking About Similarity, 1976 is one

es physiological characteristics of both sexes. However,

of the earliest collaborative performances and can be

as an intersex condition, individuals described as her-

interpreted in multiple ways. Ulay sews his mouth closed

maphroditic could be considered to be simultaneously

during the performance, leaves, and Marina operates as

both male and female but they are also, paradoxically,

his voice, answering questions from the audience that

neither one nor the other. It is in this way that Marina

Ulay is physically prevented from responding. Playing

and Ulay considered themselves to be complimentary

with the dynamics of gender and cultural understanding

pairs, each providing what the other lacked, in order to

of traditional male and female roles, this early work can

make a complete whole. Ulay and Marina dressed and

be seen as reinforcing the passivity of the female, which

behaved like twins (already strongly resembling each

is in direct contrast to the strength of the male. Ulay, by

other in build and appearance), and aimed to create

investing in the act of seeming self-mutilation, and also

a relationship of complete trust. Their earliest works,

disallowing himself the potential to speak, harkens to

from 1976 to 1980 are part of Ulay and Marina’s series

the stereotypical male figure that is assertive, in control,

of Relation Works, durational performances that were

domineering, and in charge, as Marina sits, as a pseu-

described as “work which both lives off of and feeds into

do-dummy, answering questions directed to him, for

the investigation of relationship between two humans as

him, “until I make a mistake and answer for myself.” She

they try to relate simultaneously to one another... highly

references the female figure, the dutiful partner, who

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has no voice except for speaking in agreement with the

I would like to offer is that they are reversing roles, and

hands working in tandem. Charles Green embraces this

male. Mary Richards, an art historian, writes extensively

Marina is now speaking in place of and for Ulay, owning

interpretation and further suggests Ulay and Marina’s

about sacrifice in regards to this performance. Although

the power and having the ultimate say, where Ulay has

collaboration as “blurred and doubled the ‘normal’ figure

Ulay was made to be a self-inflicted mute, Marina can

none. Ulay has sacrificed his voice, power, and physical

of the artist as an individual body.”13 For Green, Marina

be seen to offer a stereotypical female sacrifice, only

presence, deferring to Marina. Regardless, even a role

and Ulay’s hermaphroditic body more “resembled a third

existing in the performance space as a projective screen

reversal still leaves the pair locked in a power struggle –

hand, a doppelganger, or a phantom extension of the art-

for Ulay. 12 Again, this is significant when considered in

reversing gendered power dynamics isn’t changing them,

ist’s joint will.” 14 Green’s analysis, which is significantly

relation to their gendered identity; Ulay, as a male figure,

something that is also problematic in John Lennon and

informed by Marina and Ulay’s own discussion of their

could masochistically voice his experience through Ma-

Yoko Ono’s collaboration.

work, however fails to reference the utilization of how this

rina, and therefore was manipulating the power and plac-

This way of distinguishing the individual actions of the

third hand is approximated and created, as the creators of

ing Marina in the position of the sadist, reinforcing his

partners is not the only way to read Marina and Ulay’s

this “third hand,” it supposes that both Marina and Ulay

underlying power (he is empowered by making himself,

works. The claim of a fused being is enforced through-

contributed equally to its making. Is this hand conceptu-

by choice, powerless, martyred). This sacrifice seems to

out all performances, representing the space being

ally “birthed” from its artist “parents”?

reinforce/expose/complicate the notion that they are a

negotiated, which allows an alternative mode of analysis

fused self. Marina and Ulay can be seen as reinforcing

to be discussed. The actions of the combined figure of

gender stereotypes, with Marina volunteering her own

the merged self acknowledge the separate actions of

identity for the sake of Ulay’s, but an alternative analysis

each of the bodies similarly to a body’s left and right

“ T his man was everything I wanted, and I knew he felt the same about me.”

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bramović was born in Belgrade in 1946,

relays the reverse reaction she had to an experience

shortly after the end of WWII. Her formative

most children would find utterly distressing:

years, while heartbreaking, are not entirely

unusual for those of us raised in Eastern Europe — while

When one of my baby teeth fell out and the bleeding

Abramović’s experience is undoubtedly a function of her

wouldn’t stop, everyone thought I might have

parents’ particular personalities, it also reflects more

hemophilia so I was put in the hospital for a year.

general cultural pathologies related to discipline and

That was the happiest, most wonderful time of my

the chronic denial of emotional reality. She recounts:

life. Everybody was taking care of me and nobody was punishing me. I never felt at home in my own

My parents were both partisans and national heroes.

home and I never feel at home anywhere.

They were very hard-core and

THE MAIN PROBLEM IN THIS RELATIONSHIP WAS WHAT TO DO WITH THE TWO ARTISTS’ EGOS. I HAD TO FIND OUT HOW TO PUT MY EGO DOWN, AS DID HE, TO CREATE SOMETHING LIKE A HERMAPHRODITIC STATE OF BEING THAT WE CALLED THE DEATH SELF.

were so busy with their careers

And yet under these harsh conditions, Abramović had no

that I lived with my grandmother

choice but to cultivate a skill fundamental for creativity

until I was six. Until then, I hardly

— that vital capacity for “fertile solitude” and ability to do

even knew who my parents were.

nothing all alone with oneself.

They were just two strange people who would visit on Saturdays and

Isolated from other children and condemned to

bring presents. When I was six,

forced aloneness, she began drawing daily — one

my brother was born, and I was

of the few activities her mother supported — when

sent back to my parents. From that

she was only three. Drawing became a lens through

point on, my childhood was very

which she saw and understood the world. She

unhappy. I grew up with incredible

relays one particularly formative experience:

control, discipline, and violence at home. Everything was extreme.

One day I was lying on the ground looking up and a

My mother never kissed me. When

few supersonic planes flew over me and made these

I asked why, she said, “Not to spoil

incredible lines, like drawings. I watched them appear,

you, of course.” She had a bacteria

form, then disappear; and then the sky was blue again.

phobia so she didn’t allow me to

It was incredible. I immediately went to the military

play with other children out of

base and asked friends of my father’s if they could

fear that I might catch a disease.

give me twelve supersonic planes to make a drawing

She even washed bananas with detergent. I spent

in the sky. They called my father and said, “Get your

most of my time alone in my room. There were many,

daughter out of here. She is completely nuts!” But after

many rules. Everything had to be in perfect order. If I

that, I never went to the studio again. It was almost

slept messily in bed, my mother would wake me in the

like a spiritual experience, and I realized that I could

middle of the night and order me to sleep straight.

make art from practically nothing. I could use water, fire, earth, wind, myself. It’s the concept that matters.

Illustrating just how reality-warping such parenting is and how hungry for affectionate care such systematic deprivation leaves the child, Abramović

This was the beginning of performance for me.

ART VITAL TH E AR TISTS EM B AR K ON C H ALLENG I NG JO U R N E Y

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n 1976, when Ulay and Marina Abramović decided to

of totality, both as artists and as a couple. Their destiny

magnified life-expressions that manifest themselves beyond

live and work together, they made a commitment to

was a singular one in recent art history, as they have not

provocative and existential dramatization.

each other, as expressed in their Relation Work’s Art

only embodied the idea of magnetic attraction between the

In the years of Relation Work (1976-1988) that refer to the

Vital manifesto:

opposites, but also the desire to experience and express

collaboration with Marina Abramović, Ulay controlled the

‘Art Vital: No fixed living place, permanent movement,

artistically the metaphysical necessity of completeness,

outcome of the documentation of their joint performances

direct contact, local relation, self-selection, passing

which manifests itself in the deepest of loves.

in terms of photography and video.

limitations, taking risks, mobile energy.’

Although they began their career together at a time when most of the artists who practiced performance had already

In other works from the same Renais sense series, the

Their highly charged conceptual performances were not

concluded these forms of practice, Ulay and Abramović

hybrid identity and transgender visual rhetoric is replaced

only radically new in terms of performative expressions,

have shown that performance art is not conditioned

by the representation of the androgynous. These works

but also in terms of the how the couple’s relationship was

historically, but is instead a medium with infinite expressive

translate different feelings and needs: the desire to obtain

involved in the production of meaning. Their experience

possibilities. Their performances cannot be categorized in

an androgynous unity and to retrieve the lost Self through

of life and creation is inextricably linked to the experience

any way, for they are not only self-expressions, but are also

the fusion with his beloved.

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ne essential commonality emerges between

could exist. We had no money and the performances we did

artists who struggled before finding success. Like

hardly paid. We lived like that for five years and it was bliss!”

Patti Smith, who was homeless and starving for

years and yet thought of herself not as a homeless person but as an artist who hasn’t yet found her muse, Abramović made no compromises about being a full-time artist: “All I wanted to do was be an artist. I didn’t want to work in a restaurant or do any other job, so Ulay and I decided to live together in a van. It was the most radical but also the simplest decision I have ever made. It was really the only way we

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RELATION IN SPACE A R H Y TH M IC PER F OR MANC E OF T WO BODI E S M EE TI NG

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ne performance that is representative of

fused, or third, self. As the art historian James Westcott

a problematic relationship with gendered

notes, “Ulay had to restrain his full power, otherwise

stereotypes is Relation in Space, 1976 (Figures

Abramović would have been knocked down too easily.”

5, 6). This work is Ulay and Marina’s first and one of

24 With this in mind, Relation in Space cannot be

their best-known collaborations. The performance

understood as a testing of limits, but instead an exer-

begins with Marina and Ulay, both nude and positioned

cise demonstrating the illusion of a balance of power

approximately sixty feet apart, facing one another. For

between the male/female binary. There seems to be an

the next fiftyeight minutes, the two walked towards each

inherent problem with limiting one’s own potential for

other over and over again. Each time they approached

the sake of another, preemptively removing any sense of

each other, they collided. With each pass, the couple in-

competition. Creating the semblance of equality/com-

creased their speed and the resulting collisions became

monality of human experience through restraint only

more and more significant. The two artists describe this

reinforces the biological differences between the two

performance as “two bodies running for one to each

gendered performers.

other, like two planets, and mixing male and female energy into a third component that we called ‘that self.’”

23 However, this seminal work seems to be more about male/female conflicts than about the creation of either a

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“ Two bodies repeatedly pass, touching each other. After gaining a higher speed, they collide.”

This performance seeks to demonstrate equality between the sexes but does so only on the most superficial of levels. Although the artists claim this performance, like many of their others, is simply a collection of “apparently meaningless actions,” it is difficult to view this performance as a transgression of gender norms through this self-described meaningless action. Within the confines of the liminal gallery, it appears as though this performance functions as an editorial commentary reinforcing the differences between the genders.

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INTERRUPTION IN SPACE PH YSICAL DIV ISION PL AYS C RUC I AL ROLE I N PER F OR MANC E

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ith Ulay and Marina’s works, however, the power in the form of authorship is meant to be shared, as is the responsibility for

their respective roles within the context of any given performance. Their works speak to an intrapersonal understanding (they reference the desire for telepathy often), and trust in each other, that would be likely impossible in a strictly professional relationship.

Thomas McEvilley, a close friend and art historian, writes of their complex relationship in his book Art, Love, Friendship - the title of which alone succinctly defines how intertwined their artistic practice was with their biography; their love life was inseparable from their artistic lives. In this book McEvilley writes, “Marina and Ulay made art in part through their love for one another.” As they defined this love through the conjoined phantom identity, their individual identities became less accessible in performances and public life.

Here, an argument needs to be posited with respect to Marina and Ulay’s public and private life. Were their public lives and performances separate from their private identities? Do Marina and Ulay, in their private lives still exist as this fused hermaphroditic self? The gender issues of the hermaphrodite they created have already been analyzed in terms of performance, but what can be said about outside of the gallery, outside the performance in regards to their lives? Even though the performance work was not possible without the presence of the romantic coupling, it would seem that their private experiences could not escape from the demands of the performances. In private life, they maintained a traditional male and female separation of duties. Marina knitted, cleaned, and cooked, while Ulay drove, built structures for their performances, and managed the money. This heteronormative male/female negotiation of responsibility is reflective in several of their Relation Works.

“ T H E AUDI ENCE S AW US BOT H; E ACH O F US ON LY S AW T H E WAL L B E T WEEN US. T H E AUD IENCE S AW SEPAR AT I ON, BU T IN O UR L IV E S WE WER E CLOSER E ACH DAY. WE WER E BE C O MING A KIND O F MELDED PER SON AL I T Y. S O M E T IM E S WE C AL L ED E ACH OT HER ‘G LUE .’ TO G E T H ER , WE WER E SUPER G LUE .”

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IT LOOKED VERY PERSONAL , BUT IN FACT, THE PIECE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH OUR RELATIONSHIP OR THE USUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF FACE SLAPPING: IT WAS ABOUT USING THE BODY AS A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

LIGHT / DARK WH AT APPE AR ED A S R AG E , WA S AC T UALLY C H EM ISTR Y

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ften, Ulay and Marina spoke of themselves

go-for-it and heroism and the possibility of being killed.”

only non-performative work) and in content, as they

simply as “bodies,” and said that it was “not im-

30 Marina expands upon her gendered conception of

acknowledge their male and female halves and relinquish

portant that we are man and woman.” 28 With

energy to say of beginning their collaboration, “as soon

the hermaphroditic body.

this in mind, it can be assumed that issues of gender were

as we were together my female energy came out and I

not the primary conceptual impetus behind their perfor-

really felt I didn’t need to be like a man anymore. [Ulay]

mative practices. Yet, while this may be true, some critics

was acting out the male/female issue already. Then after

The works described in this chapter express the mate-

maintain that gender was an important and often critical

we met he just shaved the other side too, so he became a

rialization of the metaphorical hermaphroditic union

part of the conversation that relates to their entire oeuvre.

man.” 31 McEvilley then notes that Ulay “had assumed

by Marina and Ulay in a variety of ways. A conceptual

McEvilley’s writings and interviews prove invaluable for

the severe patriarchal role that she had played for herself

analysis corroborates the fact that many of their perfor-

the discussion of gender in their “artistic collaboration

in earlier works, and she was now wholly compliant.”

mances often reinforced gender stereotypes as opposed

that has emphasized mediations and balancings of the

32 Ulay and Marina most successfully articulate these

to redefining them, regardless of their intentions. Marina

male and female principles.”29 He reinforces that before

notions of gendered difference with the work, Modus

and Ulay embarked upon both literal and figurative feats

their collaborations and during, as articulated above,

Vivendi. Modus Vivendi or ‘Way of Living’, 1984-1985, is

of endurance that tested the limits of both their personal

both explored gender stereotypes in their work, such as

a life-size photographic series of works shot on Polaroid

and professional relationships, and ultimately resulted

with Rhythm 0, where Marina relinquished control of her

in which Marina and Ulay, as silhouettes, represent sym-

in the demise of both. Unable to escape the convention-

body, existing as a stereotypical passive female body to

bolic icons of male and female archetypes of womanhood,

al constructs of patriarchally defined notions of man

be used, and in Ulay’s early performances experimenting

maleness and union. 33 Here the conceptually essential

and woman, they created scenarios based on trust and

with drag. Conversely, Marina, in regards to her early,

underlying and unspoken subject of their work becomes

reciprocity that simultaneously struggled for their sense

solo works before their collaboration, and specifically of

fully conscious as they talk about difference as opposed

of gendered self to be eroded or subsumed for the sake of

Rest Energy says, “The courage to do the piece seemed

to similarity. 34Modus Vivendi marks a strong departure

the other.

more male...I took a completely male approach, really

from the early works, both stylistically (this is their first/

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B R E AT H I NG I N, B R E AT H I NG OUT

A V ISUAL AN D PH YSICAL R EPR E SEN TATION OF DEPEN DENC E

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his project consisted of the artists sitting in front of the other, connected to the mouth. They took in their breaths until all the available oxygen is ex-

hausted. The performance lasted only 17 minutes, resulting in the collapse of the two artists on the floor unconscious.

This personal piece explored the idea of a person’s ability to absorb the life of another person, sharing and destroying it. The works described in this chapter express the materialization of the metaphorical hermaphroditic union by Marina and Ulay in a variety of ways.

A conceptual analysis corroborates the fact that many of their performances often reinforced gender stereotypes as opposed to redefining them, regardless of their intentions.

Marina and Ulay embarked upon both literal and figurative feats of endurance that tested the limits of both their personal and professional relationships, and ultimately resulted in the demise of both. Unable to escape the conventional constructs of patriarchally defined notions of man and woman, they created scenarios based on trust and reciprocity that simultaneously struggled for their sense of gendered self to be eroded or subsumed for the sake of the other.

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“ W hile he paced in actual danger of falling, I walked in metaphorical danger.�

THE BRINK A WALK OF BOTH SYM BOLIC AN D LI TER AL DANG ER

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he works described in this chapter express the

given performance. Their works speak to an intrapersonal

alized through its association with showing artworks, where

materialization of the metaphorical hermaphrodit-

understanding (they reference the desire for telepathy of-

conventional rules (here the implied rules of gender) can be

ic union by Marina and Ulay in a variety of ways.

ten), and trust in each other, that would be likely impossible

broken, ignored, manipulated, as a space to merge into this

A conceptual analysis corroborates the fact that many of

in a strictly professional relationship. Thomas McEvilley,

hermaphroditic form, which seems to transgress and trans-

their performances often reinforced gender stereotypes as

a close friend and art historian, writes of their complex

form the binary of gendered figures. This transgression is

opposed to redefining them, regardless of their intentions.

relationship in his book Art, Love, Friendship - the title of

illustrated through the complex logic of many performance

Marina and Ulay embarked upon both literal and figurative

which alone succinctly defines how intertwined their artistic

pieces, when gendered roles are reversed, convoluted, or

feats of endurance that tested the limits of both their per-

practice was with their biography; their love life was insepa-

combined.

sonal and professional relationships, and ultimately result-

rable from their artistic lives. In this book McEvilley writes,

ed in the demise of both. Unable to escape the conventional

“Marina and Ulay made art in part through their love for one

constructs of patriarchally defined notions of man and

another.” 21 As they defined this love through the conjoined

woman, they created scenarios based on trust and reciproci-

phantom identity, their individual identities became less

ty that simultaneously struggled for their sense of gendered

accessible in performances and public life.

self to be eroded or subsumed for the sake of the other.

Within their performances, Green writes, “extreme self-abWith Ulay and Marina’s works, however, the power in the

sorption spectralized their bodies, so their collaborative

form of authorship is meant to be shared, as is the respon-

body became their real body.” 20 Marina and Ulay utilized

sibility for their respective roles within the context of any

the gallery as a liminal space, a transitional space contextu-

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F OR CE : I N F LU ENC E

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hat began as a fairy-tale romance ended in

everything to me. I dedicate all the energy in my body to my

a nightmare. Abramović was forty and even

work and have completely sacrificed a more conventional

though she felt “fat, ugly, and unwanted,” she

personal life for it. I have no partner and no children, but

had only one choice in order to go on — make good art. She

I’m very proud of myself for always doing what I want, no

brings the journey full-circle to the determinative experi-

matter what the cost and no matter how long it’s taken… I

ences of her childhood, attesting to the fact that great artists

wake up in the morning with this urge to create; it’s almost

spend a lifetime making power from their wounds:

like I am in a fever. Every single day is structured. I work, work, work, and my curiosity never ends.”

“When I was growing up, my private life was not valued.

The noblest thing one could do in my family was to sacrifice everything for a cause. Art became my cause and it’s still

Force - Influence

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hough an intriguing concept, this metaphorical

they shared the most essential of all life’s needs: breath.

third hand or force that Green describes may be

The two artists were seated opposite each other, locked in

more accurately articulated as a union, as the

what appears to be a passionate embrace. However, their

merging of two beings into one metaphysical fused self,

noses were plugged, their mouths were locked together,

as opposed to a third, newly formed additional creation. In

and they have constrained themselves to remain so for

terms of authorship, the collaborative credit acknowledg-

as long as possible, only taking in the other’s exhalation.

es the figures of Marina Abramović and Ulay as a pairing

By subverting the most basic of human operations, the

of two separate individuals, not as a representative

symbiotic couple engaged in self-sabotage to realize

third figurehead. I prefer to relate their collaboration to

their fused being fully. 17 As two individuals sharing

Aristophanes’s discussion of hermaphroditism in Plato’s

the same breath, in and out, the stereotypical male and

Symposium, though not a contemporary example, as

female dynamic of control was relinquished. Instead

used in Carolyn Heilbrun’s book, Toward a Recognition of

the performance offered a “dissolution of binary based

Androgyny. In Plato’s writings on love, Aristophanes says

power” and created the actual morphed self towards which

that human beings were originally spherical and bisexed/

Marina and Ulay had worked. 18 In the end, their “choices

hermaphroditic androgynous figures and subsequently

forced each other into an unsustainable interdependence

split into two opposite sexed halves, male and female. The

that would become mutually suffocating,” 19 and they

halves wander lonely through the world forever seeking

collapsed, unconscious after sixteen minutes. Breathing

one another.

In/Breathing Out also references the obsessive aspect of

Representations of the creation of the fully fused perfor-

romantic relationships, the necessity to do everything

mative hermaphroditic self are made fully visible by Ulay

with and for another, and the toxicity and fleetingness of

and Marina in Breathing In/Breathing Out, 1977, one of

the situation – it is not sustainable. This performance is

several performances in which they explore the notions

the embodiment of the hermaphroditic union and their

of linkage and unification. For Breathing In/Breathing

relationship at its most extreme.

Out, the pair seemed truly to function as a unified self, as

G IVING B I RTH TO A N EW L IFE PAI R B EC OM E S K NOWN A S G R AN DPAR EN TS OF PER F OR MANC E AR T

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Marina and Ulay, 1977

Marina and Ulay, 1977

Marina and Ulay, 196

D ISC O NNE C T: T H E SPLI T/NOW

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he power couple ended like many famous duos do; a crash and burn after a flaming romance

The pair broke up in 1988—fittingly, at the conclusion of

and intense working relationship. Unlike the

a performance in which they started at opposite ends of

majority of couples, however, Marina and Ulay made their

the Great Wall of China and met in the middle. (They orig-

ending a performance all its own. “Nightsea Crossing was

inally intended to marry there.)

the beginning of the end for us,” Abramović admitted.

“For her, it was very difficult to go on alone. For me, it was

During one performance, Ulay could not match her

actually unthinkable to go on alone,” recalled Ulay, who

endurance abilities. She continued to sit after he gave up,

withdrew from the art world in subsequent years. “If love

facing an empty chair.

is broke it turns to hate,” he added. “She hated me.”

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“I T WA S IMP O S SIBLY BE AU T IF UL US BR E AT H ING T HE S AME R H Y T H M, T HE DAYS G OI N G BY. . . A S BE AU T IF UL A S IT WA S , T HOU G H, T H ER E WA S A WO R M IN T H E APPL E .”

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ow 72, Ulay splits his time between Amsterdam

table in half and invited visitors to sit opposite her

and Ljubljana, Slovenia. We meet in his spacious

instead of me.” He says his own initial indifference to

flat, overlooking the Dragon Bridge. He first came

the issue of authorship has contributed to the problem.

to Ljubljana for a show of his work and met his now-wife,

“Because I don’t want to always struggle with her.”

a renowned Slovenian graphic designer. Their apartment is full of art and found objects: antique apothecary

Their relationship remained cordial and might have

jars, handwritten notes in a number of languages, an

continued so, he says, had Abramović not interfered with

ornately carved south Asian screen. But Ulay is rarely

the publication of his 2014 book, Whispers: Ulay on Ulay.

in one place for long: invited to perform at Art Basel,

The book – which included images from their joint works

teaching on the Greek island of Hydra, filming in Paris.

– was begun when Ulay was undergoing chemotherapy.

Abramović originally agreed to give an interview – “She

In 2013, he was the subject of a documentary film,

was extremely kind,” recalls its author, Maria Rus Bojan –

Project Cancer, which followed him for a year after

but later claimed through her lawyer that she had not given

he was diagnosed with lymphoma. After extensive

permission to use either the interview or some pictures.

chemotherapy, he beat the cancer and is now in fine form. He mocks what nearly killed him with a Marlboro

The publisher decided to exclude about 28 images,

Red for ever curling smoke around his fingers.

printing a pink square in place of each. It is the page numbers of these missing images that Ulay scribbles

Warm and soft-spoken with a haggard handsomeness,

on the wall in A Skeleton In The Closet. “I was hurt, very

he seems to have more stories than could fit in one

much hurt.” he says. “It is unthinkable, so unjust, so not

biography. He was born in Germany, but is synonymous

right. When I was working with her, she was great. But

with Amsterdam’s art scene, where he lived for decades

then, you know, the direction she went to, to become a

and still keeps an apartment. His art career began with

star, is something I do not envy. It’s far away from my

his role as a photographer for Polaroid, travelling Europe

intentions, wishes, desires ... it went to her head.”

and the US, taking photographs with their colossal 20x24 and 40x80 inch cameras. The majority of his work remains

Curator Tevz Logar, who organised Ulay’s first show in

photographic, but he made his name with his (frequently

Slovenia, points out that, until recently, Ulay had showed

cross-dressing) performances.

no interest in maintaining a position in the contemporary art world. Now he is represented by the MOT International

The most famous relationship in performance art ended

gallery, and will have a solo exhibition in London next

dramatically 18 years ago, after a piece in which Ulay and

year. “That meant that he started to enter Marina’s

Abramović set out from opposite ends of the Great Wall

symbolic space, space that until now she ruled over.

of China – then met in the middle to say farewell. Ulay says that from 1988-99, he and she did not speak. With

“Every single person in the art world knows that the

the encouragement of Abramović’s gallerist Sean Kelly, a

Relation Works [their most famous collaborative series]

contract was drawn up to manage their joint oeuvre and

worked because of the balance between them, and

Ulay sold his physical archive – including negatives and

of their equal and joint efforts,” says Logar. “That is

transparencies – to Abramović. According to the contract,

how it entered the history of art and performance.”

it could be used to produce saleable work at Abramović’s discretion with 20% of the profit going to Ulay. She agreed

When approached to comment on the case, Abramović’s

to tell him about any reproductions or sales of their work.

lawyer replied: “Mrs Abramović totally disagree[s] with

The main problem in this relationship was

Ulay’s allegations. My client doesn’t want to comment

what to do with the two artists’ egos. I had to

on them, they are libellous. My client considers that this

find out how to put my ego down, as did he, to

lawsuit is abusive and aimed to damage her reputation in

create something like a hermaphroditic state

public, which is proven by his allegations to you. My client

of being that we called the death self.

is very confident in her position in front of the court. She

Since then, Ulay claims she has violated that contract. He

will defend her rights and reputation by all legal means.”

says he has received surprisingly little money – much less, he reckons, than half of what he should have received.

As for Ulay, he is defending his reputation by more

Each of their works sell regularly for five or six-figure

subtle means. A tiny note in the acknowledgments

sums, yet he has received a total of €31,000. “There is

pages of his book Whispers reveals the reason

THE MAIN PROBLEM IN THIS RELATIONSHIP WAS WHAT TO DO WITH THE TWO ARTISTS’ EGOS. I HAD TO FIND OUT HOW TO PUT MY EGO DOWN, AS DID HE, TO CREATE SOMETHING LIKE A HERMAPHRODITIC STATE OF BEING THAT WE CALLED THE DEATH SELF.

a lot of money going through her

for the pink squares – and the missing images. “I

accounts – and of course they have

think it must have pissed her off,” he says.

a very good accountant.” He says he only learned of a major Adidas commercial that used their joint work while it was being filmed.

Ulay claims she has paid him only four times. He explains what he hopes to achieve through litigation: “The points I’m asking of her are: every three months, a statement on sales and my royalties. And I’m asking for absolute proper mentioning of my name.”

What concerns Ulay more, though, is his sense that Abramović is trying to write him out of art history. He claims their contract stipulates that

their works must be joint credited, but that Abramović has been claiming sole authorship. “She has deliberately misinterpreted things, or left my name out,” he says.

Ulay also claims that The Artist is Present “borrows from” one of their joint works, the epic 90-day performance series Nightsea Crossing, which they performed between 1981 and 1987. “At MoMA, she just cut the

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