Marina Abramovic and Ulay (alias of Uwe Laysiepen) met in Amsterdam in 1975. Their collaboration began the following year, arising from a common need to make daily life meet the practice of art. The set of their themes originated within the collaboration itself, in the reciprocal relationship it implied, and in the relation that bound them both to their physical environment.
Challenging both their physical and mental limits, Marina Abramovic and Ulay undertook numerous initiatory trips with the intention of discovering different and mainly non-occidental cultures. Focusing on the role of time in human relationships, the artists work in various media (performances, video set ups, polaroids) in order to complement one another as a fragment of a larger whole of multiple media.
Der Mond, Die Sonne presents a selection of the artists’ most recent polaroids. Due to their 1:1 scale, the artists reach a high level of technology as the works, for the first time, truly materialize as a reflection of real-life experiences. Without any manipulation, they emphasize the things which happen within the image rather than the process the image is submitted to. The exhibition also features a performance by the duo and will be one of their last public appearances together before they set out on a 5000 km walk along the Great Wall of China. Starting from the two opposite ends and meeting in the middle, each of them will walk across to meet one another after a year of parting.
Organized by the Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva and supported by the DESTE Foundation, Der Mond, die Sonne is accompanied by public screenings of Marina Abramovic and Ulay’s video works and a lecture by the duo on their work.
