The artist Ulay, known for his seminal performance collaboration with former partner Marina Abramović, has died. Real name Frank Uwe Laysiepen, the artist met met Abramović in 1976 in Amsterdam. They embarked on a 12 year working partnership, as well as becoming lovers, with works including Relation in Space (1976), in which they ran into each other repeatedly for an hour; Relation in Movement (1977) in which the pair drove 365 laps around the inside of a museum in a car; Relation in Time (1977) in which they sat back to back, tied together by their ponytails for sixteen hours. In 1980 they performed Rest Energy in Dublin, in which they counter-balanced each other on opposite sides of a drawn bow and arrow, the arrow pointed at Abramović’s heart with potential to kill. Between 1981 and 1987, the pair performed Nightsea Crossing in 22 performances, sitting silently across from each other for seven hours a day.
In 1988 the couple split in suitably performative fashion, walking from opposite sides of the Great Wall of China and ending their relationship as they met in the middle. Abramović and Ulay have had a tempestuous relationship since, with decades of not speaking. In 2015 Ulay sued his former partner in the Dutch courts claiming Abramović had violated a contract regarding their shared work. Ulay was awarded €250,000 in unpaid royalties. A much reported reunion took place at Abramović’s smash The Artist Is Present retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in which the artist sat opposite members of the public. Abramović was seemingly unaware that Ulay planned to take part in the work, crying as he took a seat opposite her.
In 2017 however Abramović told the Louisiana Channel “All the anger and all the hate” had gone between the pair. “I think of this life that left this really beautiful work that we left behind, and this is what matters.”
In a post on Instagram, Abramov responded to Ulay’s death: ‘It is with great sadness I learned about my friend and former partner Ulay’s death today. He was an exceptional artist and human being, who will be deeply missed. On this day, it is comforting to know that his art and legacy will live on forever.’
2 March 2020
