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ULAY
BECOME
October 29 – November 20, 2009
You are
kindly invited to attend the opening of the
exhibition on Thursday, October 29th at 8 pm
at Galerija ©kuc.
Through the prism of reality, life sometimes
seems to be a bundle of coincidences and chores. When
clinging to rational explanations of these events, we can
quickly fall into routine and a feeling of comfort and false
security. It is no different in art. The same traps are
present in the context of art and its canonisation. Art can
quickly turn into a hollow illustration of a concept, an
empty object of investment within the art market, or an
artefact worshipped unconditionally in the context of
galleries and museums. In life and, naturally, also in art,
there is no trace of this in the work of Ulay. One can
notice, perhaps, a great urge to create, which is best
described by the artist himself: "One can learn many
things in life, but not art. The madness you need - the must
which is shaking you all the time. You are an artist even
when you are asleep. Because of the must." This
necessary must is probably one of the reasons I was
attracted to Ulay as an artist and, later, as a person. I
first perceived Ulay's photographic works as an important
reference point in the history of photography, as an
upgrading of knowledge and an attempt to research the area
of auto-photography. But I soon came to discover much more
in Ulay's art, particularly in his performative and
ontological approach to photography. At this point, I refer
to Thomas McEvilley, who provided an excellent definition in
his book 'The First Act' of Ulay's photographic approach:
"In terms of the various categories of photography, I would
characterize Frank Uwe Laysiepen's approach as ontological –
meaning that he is always seeking to ground his photographic
work in the real."
The ontological moment is essential to the
curatorial concept of the exhibition Become, which
focuses on the artist's early work, created between 1968 and
1976. The exhibition seeks to present key characteristics of
Ulay's early work, both in terms of formal language and
research of the medium, and its content, with a decided
emphasis on the latter, as the exhibition attempts to
present the development of Ulay's photographic language and
the genesis of his own 'anti-aesthetics', which was typical
of anti-art artists of the 20th century. Anti-aesthetics is
the common thread of the exhibition, as it connects Ulay's
formal language and content, which has evolved from a
primarily ontological perspective. Ulay's anti-aesthetic has
always been based on personal experience and the visual
recordings which have always accompanied him. Undoubtedly,
World War II had a great effect on the development of his
anti-aesthetics, as it immensely influenced Ulay and his
family, and therefore its consequences seem to have become
forever embedded in his art – from the anti-aesthetic visual
moment in the photographs of Amsterdam streets and the
demonstrations of the Dutch Provo movement from the end of
the 1960s, to the unique anti-aesthetics of Polaroid
snapshots.
Within each individual series of works there
is always a common thread, which connects the content –
Ulay's constant quest for identity and his place in society.
Photography, his medium of choice from the beginning, is no
coincidence, as it somehow enables what Ulay has always
sought: experimentation and questioning his identity in
relation to the medium of photography. This enables him to
constantly move the boundaries of photography and question
what photography is, while providing an opportunity to
examine his own sexual and social role, always in the
context of the 'other', the subject on the other side of the
camera, regardless of whether this was often himself – the
'other' as the identity of himself.
The use of Polaroids as a photographic
technique allows him to question constantly, in the best
possible way. Between 1970 and 1971, Ulay worked as a
consultant with the Polaroid Corporation, which provided him
with ample opportunity to research the technique. At the
same time, he began to study photography in Cologne,
learning a great deal about the technology, including how to
make emulsion or photographic paper, thereby again expanding
the boundaries of his perception of the medium. This period
was marked to an even greater extent by his friendship with
a fellow student, German artist Jürgen Klauke, with whom he
also began to collaborate. Klauke also introduced Ulay to
several intellectuals specialising in transvestism, which
became the focus of his work in the period of Polaroids and
auto-Polaroids. At that time, Ulay's photographic approach
became increasingly performative, both in form and content.
Later, performative tendencies within the medium of
photography were transformed into the medium of performance,
his new method of choice, which enables him to express his
life in art in the most sincere way, as life has always been
the starting point for his work.
In some way, the exhibition Become is
about the incessant and tireless quest for Ulay's identity,
which is almost never clearly and directly defined. It
always seems that it can be found in the relationship to the
subject on the other side of the camera or, as it were, in
the relationship to the 'other': graffiti, ruins,
photographic paper, a symbol, a protester, a member of a
marginal social group, the public, a close friend, a lover,
or himself. Whatever the story, it always comments on and
examines Ulay's position in society. It seems that Ulay's
media of choice are not photography, installation or
performance, but himself – his Being and life are the
medium. Although the exhibition Become focuses on a
fairly short period of Ulay’s art, which could seem out of
context, the reverse is the case, as this period reveals the
arche of his artistic practice and the code for
experiencing his art in all its stages.
Curator: Tev¾ Logar
Public talk with the artist
Friday, October 30 at 19.00 at Galerija ©kuc.
Participating
Jerko
Denegri, Ulay and Tev¾ Logar
Film screening: Ulay
in Photography, film by Marjoeline Boonstra, 1998
Wednesday, November 4, at 20.00 at Galerija
©kuc.
Wednesday, November 11, at 20.00 at Galerija
©kuc.
A guided tour
with the curator will take place on Tuesday,
November 10 and Friday, November 20 at 18.00.
Support:
Embassy of Kingdom of the
Netherlands
For further information contact Tev¾ Logar,
artistic director of ©kuc Gallery on
+ 386 51 31 09 57 or
galerija.skuc@guest.arnes.si
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