Ulya died - the co -author and love of Marina Abramovich. Together they investigated the world, relationships and each other

We talk about 10 of his works, with Marina and without

On March 2, at the age of 76, Ulya died-artist Frank Uve Lasipen, most known as a partner in art and former lover of the most famous activist of Marina Abramovich. Twelve years, from 1976 to 1988, they were one of the most noticeable and innovative pairs in the art world. Together they created performances that comprehend different aspects of the relationship: they intertwined with their hair, breathed their mouths in their mouths, stood naked in the doorway through which people passed. But it is wrong to limit the artistic heritage of Ulya to only the work with Abramovich, this is also said by the curators of his large retrospective exhibition in the city Museum of Amsterdam, which can be seen before the end of April 2020. At the request of Medusa, the editor of the Big Museum project Daria Tentkina tells about the works of Frank Uve Lasipen.

Conversation with oneself

Solilogue, 1972–1974

Ulai was one of the first to use Polaroid cameras in art. In a series of pictures “Conversation with himself”, he shot himself close -up, including with his wounds, closely considering his own body. Ulya later told about this time: “I belonged to the era of rejection of aesthetics; To the bad guys who have chosen completely unacceptable artistic means. In general, the art scene was still in the wake of late modernism-beauty, aesthetics. And then, of course, I chose the worst tools: performance, video, film, photographs, and then turned the camera on himself, making himself an object of study, consciously and interestedly. It was not easy to accept. Basically, all this was rejected as destructive ideas. ”

Renais Sense, he

Renais Sense, Sʼhe, 1973–1974

In the early 1970s, Ulya was interested in the topics of switching between identities, crossdressers , transgender people and the artist often appeared in his pictures. The Renais Sence series and, in particular, one of its parts of “He” is just such a job. For her, Ulya applied female makeup on one half of his face, leaving the other untouched, and was photographed from different sides. So the artist acted as both men and women, but at the same time was neither one nor the other.

Photo

Fotot (Photo Death), 1976

A series of early performances, which, according to Ulya, “emphasized the ephemerality of human individuality with the help of endless regression of mechanical reproduction. For me it was the end of the issue of photography. ” For example, during one of the performances of Ulya, dressed in a white overalls and a mask, he asked someone from the audience of the gallery to stand opposite the walls with a stretched photosensitive canvas and photographed them on Polaroid. Due to the outbreak, the canvas became black-only the white silhouette of the man who had just been there remained. Instead, Ulai became, and the just made photo was projected on his white overalls - so the artist assigned the identity of the captured.

Criminal touch to art

There is a Criminal Touch to Art, 1976

Among the early works of Ulya there is one museum theft. On December 12, 1976, he came to the new National Gallery of Berlin and shot a textbook picture from the wall - the “Poor Poet” (1839) by Karl Spirg, one of Hitler's favorite artists. Having successfully escaped from the security of the museum, Ulya took the picture home to the family of labor migrants from Turkey and hung their housing on the wall. It was a protest at the same time against the German bourgeoisness and inaccessibility of art for representatives of society, devoid of privileges. As a result, Ulya, of course, returned the picture and honestly suffered a punishment for theft.

Relations in time

Relation in Time, 1977

In joint with Marina Abramovich performances, artists often studied the possibilities of interacting people and the merger of bodies, often heavy and painful. In the “Time Relations”, Marina and Ulya sat for 17 hours back to the back with woven hair. In performances on similar topics, for example, in “Relations in space” (1976) they fled towards each other, each time encountering stronger and stronger in vain attempts to unite, and in the work “Inhale-Each” (1980), breathed with one air, passing it out of their mouths in their mouths while their noses were shut up by cigarette filters.

The energy of peace

Rest Energy, 1980

Probably the most dangerous and spectacular performance of the couple is about trust, the cost of which, with an unsuccessful outcome, could become human life. Ulya and Marina, due to her weight, pulled the stretched bow with an arrow directed in the heart of Abramovich at different ends. Microphones on their clothes read a heartbeat and breathing, increased with the course of the performance. Four minutes and ten seconds later, the artists threw the bow.

Lovers

The Lovers, 1988

The parting of artists was also a work of art: Marina Abramovich and Ulya passed almost six thousand kilometers to each other from different ends of the Great Chinese wall to meet, to part forever. Initially, the performance was conceived as a manifesto of their love, and at a meeting they had to get married, but it took eight years to receive permission from the Chinese government - by that time, relations had faded away. Something else did not go according to plan: the artists thought that they would go along the wall, stopping at night in the tent, but in reality only a small part of the monument was restored for tourists: the rest of the wall represented the piles of stones stretched in the landscape. In a sense, the path turned out to be a metaphor for relations: it was long (three months), heavy and ended with a farewell embrace.

In the presence of the artist

The Artist Is Pressent, 2010

This performance can hardly be called a joint work, rather - meetings in the territory of art. Twenty years after the parting, in 2010, the artists again met at the Museum of Contemporary Art in New York. Ulya suddenly came to the performance of Abramovich "in the presence of the artist." She sat at the table, on the other side of which a stranger could sit down and meet with an artist look. Then, at the sight of an old partner, Marina cried and held out his hands that Ulya took into her. This, however, did not stop the artist in 2015 to sue Marina, for the fact that she deliberately downs his role in their joint work and does not pay interest on sales of work - and win the lawsuit.

Earth Water Catalogue

2012

Interest in activism and attracting attention to injustice was reflected in several works devoted to water. According to Ulya, he called for "respect." The result was Earth Water Catalogue - an archive of works by different artists, one way or another dedicated to water.

Project Cancer Ulayʼ Journal to Novmber

2013

In 2011, the Ulya was diagnosed with cancer. Having learned the diagnosis, he decided to go on a symbolic “farewell trip” to old friends and relatives around the world. On the road he was accompanied by the operator. Ulai turned his own illness into an intimate and comforting art project , where physical discomfort from chemotherapy, and meetings with famous friends-artists, and thoughts about their own work deserved the same attention. The film ends with a touching scene - Ulya looks into the distance from the terrace of his house and thoughtfully concludes: "Yes, beautifully." And then he turns to the camera and says to us: "You are beautiful."

Daria Tentkina