Marina Abramović and Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen) @ MoMA 2010
When Abramović
and Ulay began their collaboration, the main concepts they explored were the
ego and artistic identity. This was the beginning of a decade of influential
collaborative work. Each performer was interested in the traditions of their
cultural heritages and the individual’s desire for ritual. Consequently, they
decided to form a collective being called 'the other', and spoke of themselves
as parts of a 'two-headed body'. They dressed and behaved like twins, and
created a relationship of complete trust. As they defined this phantom
identity, their individual identities became less accessible. In an analysis of
phantom artistic identities, Charles Green has noted that this allowed a deeper
understanding of the artist as performer, for it revealed a way of 'having the
artistic self made available for self-scrutiny.'
In 1988, after several years of tense relations, Abramović and Ulay decided to make a
spiritual journey which would end their relationship. Each of them walked
the Great Wall of China, starting from the two opposite ends and meeting
in the middle. As Abramović
described it: 'That walk became a complete personal drama. Ulay started from
the Gobi Desert and I from the Yellow Sea. After each of us walked
2500 km, we met in the middle and said good-bye.'
Abramović
conceived this walk in a dream, and it provided what she thought was an
appropriate, romantic ending to a relationship full of mysticism, energy
and attraction. She later described the process: 'We needed a certain form of
ending, after this huge distance walking towards each other. It is very human.
It is in a way more dramatic, more like a film ending … Because in the end you
are really alone, whatever you do.'" [source]
"At her 2010 MoMa retrospective Marina performed ‘The Artist
Is Present’ as part of the show, where she shared a minute of silence with each
stranger who sat in front of her. Ulay arrived without her knowing and this is
what happened."[source]
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