Post by pieter on Mar 9, 2020 6:45:21 GMT -7
Marina Abramović and Ulay, Whose Breakup Changed Performance Art Forever
Sarah Cascone, August 8, 2017
It’s been a tough few years for Marina Abramović and Ulay, the former longtime romantic and artistic partners. But their tumultuous relationship turned a corner with a heartfelt reunion at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, outside Copenhagen. The occasion was Abramović’s first major European retrospective, and the warm meeting was all the more meaningful given their recent acrimonious disputes.
“All the anger and all the hate” was behind them, Abramović told Christian Lund of the museum’s Louisiana Channel. “I think of this life that left this really beautiful work that we left behind, and this is what matters.”
Lund interviewed both artists, separately, for The Story of Marina Abramović and Ulay, a new film that traces the arc of their love story. “Looking back, this relationship was extremely important for the history of performance art,” Abramović said.
According to the Art Newspaper, which first reported on the reunion, the video came about after Ulay made an unexpected appearance at Abramović’s lecture at the Louisiana Museum in June.
Rich with intimate personal photographs and archival footage, the film features such highlights as an excerpt from an Italian documentary shot in 1977, when the pair were living out of a Citroën minivan. “That was the two people in love, doing the work,” said Abramović.
In the interview, the two also recall their reunion—after more than 20 years of not speaking—at New York’s Museum of Modern Art during Abramović’s endurance-based performance The Artist Is Present. Abramović’s performance was essentially a solo version of their earlier shared work, Nightsea Crossing (1981–87), in which the duo would sit facing one another for hours on end.
“Nightsea Crossing was the beginning of the end for us,” Abramović admitted. During one performance, Ulay could not match her endurance abilities. She continued to sit after he gave up, facing an empty chair.
The pair broke up in 1988—fittingly, at the conclusion of a performance in which they started at opposite ends of the Great Wall of China and met in the middle. (They originally intended to marry there.)
“For her, it was very difficult to go on alone. For me, it was actually unthinkable to go on alone,” recalled Ulay, who withdrew from the art world in subsequent years. “If love is broke it turns to hate,” he added. “She hated me.”
That rancor resurfaced, with Ulay bringing a lawsuit against his former partner in 2015, claiming she had violated a contract regarding their shared work. A Dutch court ordered Abramović to pay Ulay €250,000 ($280,500) in royalties.
“Marina Abramović: The Cleaner” originated at the Moderna Museet, Exercisplan 4, 111 49, Stockholm, and is on view at the Louisiana Museum, Gl. Strandvej 13, 3050 Humlebæk, June 17–October 22, 2017.
Sarah Cascone, August 8, 2017
It’s been a tough few years for Marina Abramović and Ulay, the former longtime romantic and artistic partners. But their tumultuous relationship turned a corner with a heartfelt reunion at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, outside Copenhagen. The occasion was Abramović’s first major European retrospective, and the warm meeting was all the more meaningful given their recent acrimonious disputes.
“All the anger and all the hate” was behind them, Abramović told Christian Lund of the museum’s Louisiana Channel. “I think of this life that left this really beautiful work that we left behind, and this is what matters.”
Lund interviewed both artists, separately, for The Story of Marina Abramović and Ulay, a new film that traces the arc of their love story. “Looking back, this relationship was extremely important for the history of performance art,” Abramović said.
According to the Art Newspaper, which first reported on the reunion, the video came about after Ulay made an unexpected appearance at Abramović’s lecture at the Louisiana Museum in June.
Rich with intimate personal photographs and archival footage, the film features such highlights as an excerpt from an Italian documentary shot in 1977, when the pair were living out of a Citroën minivan. “That was the two people in love, doing the work,” said Abramović.
In the interview, the two also recall their reunion—after more than 20 years of not speaking—at New York’s Museum of Modern Art during Abramović’s endurance-based performance The Artist Is Present. Abramović’s performance was essentially a solo version of their earlier shared work, Nightsea Crossing (1981–87), in which the duo would sit facing one another for hours on end.
“Nightsea Crossing was the beginning of the end for us,” Abramović admitted. During one performance, Ulay could not match her endurance abilities. She continued to sit after he gave up, facing an empty chair.
The pair broke up in 1988—fittingly, at the conclusion of a performance in which they started at opposite ends of the Great Wall of China and met in the middle. (They originally intended to marry there.)
“For her, it was very difficult to go on alone. For me, it was actually unthinkable to go on alone,” recalled Ulay, who withdrew from the art world in subsequent years. “If love is broke it turns to hate,” he added. “She hated me.”
That rancor resurfaced, with Ulay bringing a lawsuit against his former partner in 2015, claiming she had violated a contract regarding their shared work. A Dutch court ordered Abramović to pay Ulay €250,000 ($280,500) in royalties.
“Marina Abramović: The Cleaner” originated at the Moderna Museet, Exercisplan 4, 111 49, Stockholm, and is on view at the Louisiana Museum, Gl. Strandvej 13, 3050 Humlebæk, June 17–October 22, 2017.