HOW新展 | 乌雷：无量之物

文 | 来梦馨、哈娜·奥斯坦·奥日博尔特

昊美术馆推出乌雷（1943—2020）离世后的首场亚洲机构展览“无量之物”，全面呈现他具有开创性的毕生创作。展览由来梦馨和乌雷基金会总监哈娜·奥斯坦·奥日博尔特共同策划。

“无量之物”由大约70件作品组成，强调乌雷这位宝丽来摄影、身体和行为艺术先驱作品和遗产的多样性，及其实验、不妥协、私密的特质。这次展览是一次穿越乌雷艺术作品与生活的旅程，关注三个不同的时期：他在20世纪70年代初的艺术活动、他在1976年至1988年间与玛丽娜·阿布拉莫维奇的合作和他在90年代末的个人创作。 

乌雷与中国有着长期且深厚的关系，他许多作品的灵感都来源于此。这次展览着重呈现他回应这片广袤和伟大的土地，它的风景、文化、宗教和人民的一系列作品。

身体是一个参考、是一个起点，也是乌雷卓越运用的媒介。“我一开始使用宝丽来相机，是把镜头对准自己的——我称之为‘自动宝丽来’拍摄法——并立即发现了它的表演元素。拍摄宝丽来照片对我来说是一种表演性行为。我是在镜头前表演。”¹ 在70年代早期，不仅仅限于创作方法，在创作主题上乌雷也极具先锋性，他通过无数种方式操纵宝丽来相片来捕捉自己身体的变化，探究身份这一主题。没有观众的在场，乌雷在转瞬即逝的私密表演中探索了社会构建的性别问题、他自己的阳性气质和阴性气质，以及摄影如何游走于真实和虚幻之间。

自1976年至1988年，乌雷和当时的伴侣玛丽娜·阿布拉莫维奇合作。他们相识于1975年，当时阿布拉莫维奇在阿姆斯特丹的苹果艺术中心实施了一场行为表演。此后，他们在爱情和工作上强烈的共生关系持续了12年。乌雷不再深挖自己的阳性和阴性面向，而是与阿布拉莫维奇一起追求一种统一的、双性的状态，一个雌雄同体的存在。1976年至1980年间，他们驾驶一辆雪铁龙货车在欧洲旅行，创作了一批探索他们的关系，特别是他们的身体和精神之极限的行为表演作品。这批作品被叫作“关系作品”，乌雷自己称它们是宣泄式的、非常现实的、极简的、高度色情的。两位艺术家撰写了一份宣言《艺术之必需》，作为他们工作的基础。这些行为表演的关键在于，它们是直截了当的：没有戏剧效果，没有道具或外部干扰。它们的力度深具开创性，被认为是行为表演艺术史上的标志性作品。

1986 年，乌雷和阿布拉莫维奇第一次访问中国。而1988年，也是在中国，他们用不朽的作品《情人·长城》结束了他们的关系。他们从长城的两端相向步行了90天——当时这是一个尚没有任何西方人完成的旅程。在与中国政府进行了八年的谈判并为该项目筹集资金后，艺术家们获得了进行这项表演作品的许可。阿布拉莫维奇从长城的东端（渤海之滨的山海关）开始向西行走；乌雷从长城的西端（戈壁滩西南的嘉峪关）向东行走。两人持续向对方走去的两千公里中，他们也记录了这场旅程。展览将展出乌雷的（宝丽来）照片，它们记录了沿途风景与他一路所遇之人，以及他当时的私密日记。受长城建筑启发的大型铝制门状雕塑也将展出，这是艺术家极少数量的雕塑作品之一。1988年6月27日，阿布拉莫维奇和乌雷在陕西省神木市的二郎山相遇。长城漫步，最初是为了确认他们的爱情，最终却成为这段 20 世纪最著名而高产的艺术伙伴关系结束的标志。

与阿布拉莫维奇分手后，乌雷专注于摄影，探索这一媒介和它的边界（几件大画幅宝丽来照片和实物投影），表现他的内心状态和自己的生存探索，讨论当代社会中被边缘化的个人的地位，重新审视民族主义及其符号的问题。不过，尽管主要以摄影为媒介创作，他还保持着与“表演性”问题的联系，不断通过大量合作项目、行为表演和工作坊 “挑衅”观众。在他生命的最后十年里，乌雷主要投身旨在提高意识并增进对水的理解和感谢的项目和艺术倡议。

他2014至2017年间的晚期艺术活动在形式和内容上都以粉红色为标志（乌雷的“粉红时期”），由一系列素描、中画幅宝丽来照片和（合作）行为表演组成。

乌雷的一生通过世界旅行游走于与不同文化和人与人的关系，探索身体与精神的状态及其发展。他对身份问题的终身考察是一个“舍却所学——忘记我那些赖以自圆其说的价值观与定论”的过程。“我期待的是更多的流动性，不再那么具体……我开始看到，一切都在不断地运动：生命在于变化。” ²

^[1] Alessandro Cassin对乌雷的采访：“Early Works: Ephermal, Intimate Actions, with No Audience, Arrested in Time through the Polaroid”，第88—93页。见：Whispers: Ulay on Ulay（Maria Rus Bojan和Alessandro Cassin著，Astrid Vorstermans编），Valiz Foundation，阿姆斯特丹，2014。

^[2] 乌雷与Alessandro Cassin的对话：“Animism, Buddhism, Beckett and Cage”，第226—227页。见：Whispers: Ulay on Ulay（Maria Rus Bojan 和 Alessandro Cassin 著，Astrid Vorstermans编），Valiz Foundation，阿姆斯特丹，2014。

摄影：Primož Korošeč

乌雷（Ulay，1943年11月30日—2020年3月2日），是宝丽来摄影、身体和行为艺术的先驱。

乌雷，本名弗兰克·乌韦·莱西彭（Frank Uwe Laysiepen），1943年出生于德国索林根，接受过正式的摄影训练，曾在1968至1971年间作为宝丽来公司顾问从事摄影工作，拍摄了大量照片。在艺术活动早期（1968—1976），他主要通过一系列宝丽来照片、警句、视觉诗和具体诗以及私下的行为表演，对理解身份诸概念、个人和群体层面的身体进行了主题性的探索。他的摄影方法变得越来越具有表演性；由此产生了数以百计的自拍照和所谓的“表演性摄影（performative photography）”，并进一步发展出一系列有现场观众的“Fototot”行为表演（1975—1976）。在他早期作品的尾声，摄影这一媒介的表演性倾向彻底转化为行为表演和行动这两种媒介。

1976至1988年间，乌雷和当时的伴侣玛丽娜·阿布拉莫维奇（Marina Abramović）合作。交往12年，他们是20世纪最高产也最著名的艺术伙伴之一。他们一起用前卫的行为艺术开辟了新的天地，将彼此推向新的、甚至更加极端的、无人涉足的领域，创作挑战情感和身体的作品，考验身体和精神的能力，质疑传统的性别气质。凭借“关系”系列、《穿越夜海》、《情人·长城》等行为表演，他们成为行为艺术无可争辩的代表。

与阿布拉莫维奇分手后，乌雷专注于摄影，探索这一媒介和它的边界，讨论当代社会中被边缘化的个人的地位，重新审视民族主义及其符号的问题。不过，尽管主要以摄影为媒介创作，他还保持着与“表演性”问题的联系，不断通过大量合作项目、行为表演、工作坊和表演讲座“挑衅”观众。近年，乌雷主要投身旨在提高意识并增进对水的“理解、重视和感谢"的项目和艺术倡议。

他2014至2017年间的晚期艺术活动在形式和内容上都以粉红色为标志（乌雷的“粉红时期”），由一系列素描、中画幅宝丽来照片和（合作）行为表演组成。

乌雷，以及他与玛丽娜·阿布拉莫维奇合作的作品，被世界各地的艺术机构收藏，包括阿姆斯特丹市立博物馆、巴黎蓬皮杜中心国立现代美术馆、纽约现代艺术博物馆、旧金山现代艺术博物馆、伦敦泰特现代美术馆、维也纳现代艺术博物馆路德维希基金会等。

来梦馨，马刺画廊合伙人，策展人。在其带领下，团队已完成几十余场广受认可的展览，包括乌雷的首次亚洲个展“无量之物”。曾多次受邀中金CICC、招商银行私人银行、阿斯顿马丁等，做客艺术投资讲座的主讲嘉宾。她也是纽约古根海姆美术馆收藏委员会成员、北京尤伦斯艺术中心YA创始成员。

哈娜·奥斯坦·奥日博尔特，策展人，作家，乌雷基金会总监。她于2018年加入乌雷基金会工作，2019年起担任总监。她组织和合作策划了众多展览，包括乌雷离世后的第一个国际展览“乌雷曾来过”（阿姆斯特丹市立博物馆，2020）。

Curated by Sherry Lai and Hana Ostan Ožbolt

With The Great Journey, HOW Art Museum presents the first institutional posthumous exhibition of the groundbreaking oeuvre of Frank Uwe Laysiepen, known as Ulay (1943–2020), in Asia. The exhibition is co-curated by Sherry Lai, partner SPURS Gallery, and Hana Ostan Ožbolt, ULAY Foundation Director.

Comprising approximately 70 works, The Great Journey emphasizes the variety and the experimental, uncompromising and intimate character of the work and the legacy of Ulay, the pioneer in Polaroid photography, performance and body art. The exhibition is a journey through Ulay’s life and his body of work, focusing on three different periods: his artistic activity in the early 1970s, his collaboration with Marina Abramović between 1976 and 1989, and his work as a solo artist in the late 1990s.

Ulay had a long-lasting and personal relationship to China, that inspired a great deal of his oeuvre. The exhibition highlights various series of works, which respond to China’s vastness and greatness, its landscape, culture, religion and people.

The body as a reference, as a starting point, as Ulay’s medium par excellence: “As soon as I began using the Polaroid camera, mainly pointing it at myself – a practice I called Auto-Polaroid – I immediately discovered its performative elements. Taking Polaroids was a performative act for me: I performed in front of the camera”. ¹ In the early 70s, Ulay developed an approach that was novel in both method and subject matter, using the Polaroid camera as a tool to capture the transformations of his own body, manipulated in a myriad of ways, and investigate the subject of identity. In those fleeting, intimate performances without an audience, Ulay explored socially constructed issues of gender, his masculine and feminine sides, as well as photography’s slippery identity between the real and the illusory.

From 1976 to 1988, Ulay collaborated with former partner Marina Abramović. They met in 1975, when Marina held a performance at de Appel in Amsterdam. It was the beginning of an intensely symbiotic relationship in both love and work that lasted twelve years. Ulay no longer posed questions about his own masculine and feminine sides but, joint with Abramović, strived towards unification, towards an intersex state: that of the hermaphrodite. Between 1976 and 1980, they traveled through Europe in a Citroën van, creating performances in which they explored their relationship, and in particular their physical and mental limits. These are known as theRelation Works; performances that Ulay himself described as cathartic, very realistic, minimalistic, and highly erotic. Both artists wrote a manifesto, entitled ART VITAL, to ground their work. At their core, the performances are straightforward: no theatrical effects, no props or outside interference. Seminal in their sobriety and intensity, they are today considered iconic in the history of performance art.

In 1986, Ulay and Abramović visited China for the first time. And in 1988, it was in China that they ended their relationship with the monumental work The Great Wall Walk in which they walked for ninety days towards each other from either end of the Great Wall – a journey not yet made by any Westerner. After years of negotiations with the country's authorities, the artists got permission to carry out the durational performance: Abramović started walking at the eastern end of the Wall (at Shan Hai Guan, on the shores of the Bohai Sea), walking westward. Ulay started at the western end of the Wall (at Jai Yu Guan, the south-western periphery of the Gobi Desert), walking eastward. While they both continuously walked two thousand kilometres towards each other, they documented their journey: on view are Ulay's (Polaroid) photographs of the landscape and the people he encountered, as well as his intimate diaries from that time. Inspired by the architecture of the Great Wall itself, a large aluminium gate-like sculpture, one of the artist's very seldom examples of sculptural objects, is also exhibited. Abramović and Ulay met at Er Lang Shan, in Shen Mu, Shaanxi province. The Great Wall Walk, initially intended as a confirmation of their love, marked the end of their relationship, one of the most productive and celebrated artistic partnerships of the 20th century.

After breaking with Abramović, Ulay focused on photography, exploring the medium and its boundaries (several large format Polaroids and photograms), reflecting his inner states and own existential search, addressing the position of the marginalized individual in contemporary society and re-examining the problem of nationalism with its symbols. Nevertheless, although he was working primarily in photography, he remained connected to the question of the 'performative', which resulted in his constant 'provocation' of audiences through the realization of numerous collaborative projects, performances, and workshops. In the last 10 years of his life, Ulay has been mostly engaged in projects and artistic initiatives that raise awareness and enhance understanding and appreciation of water.

The period of his late artistic activity between 2014–2017 was marked in both form and content by the colour pink (Ulay’s “pink period”). It consists of a series of drawings, middle-size Polaroids and (collaborative) performances.

Ulay’s life was marked by various journeys with diverse people and cultures – physical travels all around the world and spiritual explorations of different states of mind. His identity search was a life-long project, closely connected to the process of “unlearning – forgetting the values by which I had justified myself, my commitment”. “What I reached was a lot more fluid and no longer as concrete. (...) I began to see that everything is in constant motion: life is change.”²  

^[1] Ulay in an Interview with Alessandro Cassin: “Early Works: Ephermal, Intimate Actions, with No Audience, Arrested in Time through the Polaroid”, pp 88-93. In: Whispers: Ulay on Ulay (by Maria Rus Bojan and Alessandro Cassin, ed. Astrid Vorstermans), Valiz Foundation, Amsterdam, 2014.

^[2] Ulay in conversation with Alessandro Cassin: “Animism, Buddhism, Beckett and Cage”, in: Whispers, Ulay on Ulay, pp. 226–227. in: Whispers: Ulay on Ulay (by Maria Rus Bojan and Alessandro Cassin, ed. Astrid Vorstermans), Valiz Foundation, Amsterdam 2014.

  Ulay  

Ulay (November 30, 1943–March 2, 2020) was the pioneer of Polaroid photography, body and performance art.

Born as Frank Uwe Laysiepen in 1943 in Solingen, Germany, Ulay was formally trained as a photographer, and between 1968 and 1971, worked extensively as a consultant for Polaroid. In the early period of his artistic activity (1968–1976) he undertook a thematic search for understandings of the notions of identity and the body on both the personal and communal levels, mainly through series of Polaroid photographs, aphorisms, visual and concrete poetry, and intimate performances. His photographic approach was becoming increasingly performative; it resulted in hundreds of self-portraits and the so called "performative photography"(Renais sense series), that further on evolved into a series of Fototot performances (1975–1976) with live audience. In the late stage of his early work, the performative tendencies within the medium of photography entirely transformed into the medium of performance and action (Irritation – There Is a Criminal Touch to Art, 1976).

From 1976 to 1988, Ulay collaborated with former partner Marina Abramović. Their 12-year relationship was one of the most fertile and celebrated artistic partnerships of the 20th century. Together they broke new ground with their pioneering performance art, propelling each other into new, evermore extreme and unexplored realms of emotional discomfort and physical endurance; testing the capabilities of the body and the spirit, questioning perceived masculine and feminine traits. Through their performances (Relation Works; Modus Vivendi; Nightsea Crossing; The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk), they became indisputable icons of performance art.

After breaking with Abramović, Ulay focused on photography, exploring the medium and its boundaries (several large format Polaroids and photograms), addressing the position of the marginalized individual in contemporary society (Can’t Beat the Feeling – Long Playing Record, 1992) and re-examining the problem of nationalism and its symbols(Berlin Afterimages, 1994–1995). Nevertheless, although he was working primarily in photography, he remained connected to the question of the 'performative', which resulted in his constant 'provocation' of audiences through the realization of numerous collaborative projects, performances, workshops, and lecture-performances (among others, Lichaamstaal, a special project for the Boumanhuis Detoxification Center, Dordrecht, NL, 1998). In recent years, Ulay has been mostly engaged in projects and artistic initiatives that raise awareness and enhance understanding and appreciation of – and respect for – water (WATERTOALL, 2004; Waterfonie, 2009; Whose Water Is It?, 2012; Sweet Water Salt Water, 2012).

The period of his late artistic activity between 2014–2017 was marked in both form and content by the colour pink (Ulay’s “pink period”). It consists of a series of drawings, middle-size Polaroids and (collaborative) performances (Code of Conduct, Pink Pain, Skeleton in the Closet, Invisible Opponent).

Ulay's work, as well as his collaborative work with Marina Abramović, is featured in major collections of art institutions around the world such as Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Musee Nationale d’Art Moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; MoMA. Museum of Modern Art, New York; SFMOMA. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Tate Modern, London; Mumok, Vienna.

Sherry Lai is a partner of SPURS Gallery and curator. Since her leadership, the gallery has presented dozens of well-recognized exhibitions, including Ulay's first solo exhibition in Asia. She has been invited as a guest speaker at several art investment lectures by CICC, CMB's private banking, and Aston Martin. She is also a member of the acquisition committee of the Guggenheim Museum in New York and a founding member of YA at UCCA Beijing.

Hana Ostan Ožbolt is a curator, writer and director of the ULAY Foundation. Working for the Foundation since 2018, she has been leading it since 2019. Among others, she organized and co-curated Ulay's first international posthumous retrospective exhibition Ulay Was Here at Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam) in 2020.