Memorial Page for Uwe Laysiepen

Uwe Laysiepen (born 30 November 1943 in Solingen; died 2 March 2020 in Ljubljana), known as Ulay, was a German artist. He worked with photography, Polaroid, performance and body art. His work circles around identity, the body, role images, social belonging and the question of how an image is made when the action itself becomes part of the photograph.

Solingen, Amsterdam and Polaroid

Ulay left Germany in the late 1960s and moved to Amsterdam. There he found an open art scene and began working intensively with Polaroid photography. The fast, direct nature of the medium suited his search for an image in which documentation and event interlock. In his early auto-Polaroids he examined his own appearance, shifting identities and the transitions between male, female, private and public.

Photography as action

For Ulay, photography was action, process and bodily experience. He worked with change, self-presentation, alienation and the moment in which an image irreversibly comes into being. Camera, body, audience and situation moved close together. The Polaroids became traces of an action and independent works at the same time.

Work with Marina Abramović

From 1976 to 1988 Ulay worked closely with Marina Abramović. Their shared Relation Works examined trust, dependence, closeness, duration and vulnerability. Works such as Rest Energy and Nightsea Crossing connected strict performative setups with direct presence. In 1988 they ended their collaboration with The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk, in which both walked toward each other from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China.

Solo work and later themes

After the collaboration with Abramović, Ulay continued his own work. He addressed social exclusion, nationalism, water, environmental questions and the role of art as public action. Projects such as Can't Beat the Feeling - Long Playing Record, Berlin Afterimages and later water works connect body-based practice with social spaces and resources.

Retrospectives and death

Ulay lived and worked in places including Amsterdam and Ljubljana. His works are held in collections such as the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Centre Pompidou, Tate, SFMOMA and MoMA. The Stedelijk Museum was preparing a major retrospective with him when he died in 2020. Ulay died in Ljubljana on 2 March 2020. He was 76 years old.