ART VITAL: 12 Years of Ulay / Marina Abramović

ENG:

ART VITAL: 12 Years of Ulay / Marina Abramović catalogue accompanies the major retrospective exhibition dedicated to the creative partnership of Ulay and Marina Abramović at Cukrarna Gallery (30. 11. 2025 – 3. 5. 2026).

This English-language publication presents a rich selection of essays by international authors, divided into two sets:

In the first set of essays Alenka Gregorič examines how personal documents and audience participation inform an understanding of their work, while Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein reflects on shared authorship, the emergence of a “third energy,” and the ethics of the in-between. Elisabeth von Samsonow discusses the duo’s nomadic, spiritually grounded mode of presence, and Amelia Jones highlights Ulay’s ethical view of art as a lived practice deeply connected to marginalised communities. Bojana Kunst frames their everyday life and vulnerability as the very conditions of their artistic production, and Suzana Milevska reads Imponderabilia (1977) as a radical rethinking of institutional and social boundaries. Diedrich Diederichsen focuses on the specific dynamics of artistic partnerships, showing how collaboration itself becomes an evolving artwork.

A second set of essays further expands this perspective: Sabine Priglinger identifies The Brink (1979) as a turning point toward durational work; Michael Klein offers a personal view shaped by long-standing proximity to the artists; Hana Ostan-Ožbolt-Haas reflects on the meditative and visually charged Polaroid works of the 1980s; Matthieu Lelièvre examines the challenges of preserving performance’s ephemeral legacy; and Kurt Kladler revisits The Lovers (1988) through Ulay’s diary entries. The section concludes with another essay by Thun-Hohenstein, who approaches the archive as a performative field where photographs, objects, and notations continually generate new interpretations.

The essays are accompanied by a wide range of archival material, documents, drawings, contact sheets, and performance photographs.

📌 For readers interested in:

• contemporary art and performance history
• exhibition catalogues with essays and archival exploration
• body, identity and relational practice in art
• the work and collaboration of Ulay and Marina Abramović

SLO:

Razstavni katalog ART VITAL: 12 let tandema Ulay / Marina Abramović je del istoimenske razstave v Galeriji Cukrarna (na ogled: 30. 11. 2025 – 3. 5. 2026) in ponuja celovit vpogled v umetniško prakso, življenje in razmišljanje dveh ključnih osebnosti sodobne umetnosti.

Katalog združuje eseje mednarodno priznanih avtorjev, dokumentacijo, risbe in fotografije performansov, ki razkrivajo radikalni pristop umetniškega tandema, njegovo politično in estetsko mišljenje ter dinamiko partnerstva kot razvijajočega se umetniškega dela.

Eseji so razporejeni v dva sklopa:

V prvem sklopu esejev Alenka Gregorič preučuje, kako osebni dokumenti in sodelovanje občinstva oblikujejo razumevanje njunega dela, medtem ko Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein razmišlja o skupnem avtorstvu, nastanku »tretje energije« in etiki vmesnega prostora. Elisabeth von Samsonow obravnava nomadsko, duhovno utemeljeno prisotnost umetniškega dua, Amelia Jones pa izpostavlja Ulayev etični pogled na umetnost kot živo prakso, globoko povezano z marginaliziranimi skupnostmi. Bojana Kunst njuno vsakdanje življenje in ranljivost razume kot temeljna pogoja za nastanek umetniškega dela, Suzana Milevska pa bere Imponderabilio (1977) kot radikalno prevrednotenje institucionalnih in družbenih meja. Diedrich Diederichsen se osredotoča na specifično dinamiko umetniških partnerstev in pokaže, kako sodelovanje samo postane razvijajoče se umetniško delo.

Drugi sklop esejev to perspektivo še razširi: Sabine Priglinger prepozna The Brink (1979) kot prelomni trenutek, ki je umetniški tandem usmeril k duracijskemu delu; Michael Klein ponudi osebni pogled, oblikovan z dolgoletno bližino umetnikoma; Hana Ostan-Ožbolt-Haas razmišlja o meditativnih in vizualno nabitih polaroidih iz osemdesetih let; Matthieu Lelièvre preučuje izzive ohranjanja efemerne dediščine performansa; Kurt Kladler pa se k The Lovers (1988) vrne skozi Ulayeve dnevniške zapise. Sklop sklene še en esej Thun-Hohenstein, ki arhiv obravnava kot performativno polje, v katerem fotografije, predmeti in zapisi nenehno ustvarjajo nove interpretacije.

📌 Za bralce, ki jih zanimajo:

• zgodovina sodobne umetnosti in performansa
• umetniška partnerstva in avtorstvo
• performansi Marine Abramović in Ulaya
• katalogi z eseji in arhivskim gradivom