Ulay Actionin14predeterminedsequences (1975)
By Ulay
This video work is a documentation of the live Action Ulay performed in Berlin in 1976. It shows step by step his arranged "art theft" of Carl Spitzweg’s painting "The Poor Poet" from the Neue Nationalgalerie and his reception in commentaries and reactions from the press. During his performance Marina Abramovic, the artist who in the same year became his partner in work and life, took on the camera work and the visual documentation. The announcement "There is a criminal touch to art", spoken by Ulay, forms the beginning of his account which first presents the headlines and original sounds of a radio report, and solves Ulay’s mystery of the so-called "picture theft" by revealing that the 30-year-old was an Amsterdam art student whose Action had been a "demonstrative act". With Carl Spitzweg’s picture of the "Poor Poet", Ulay has in a sense stolen the "symbol of the German soul" from the National Gallery to hang it up in Kreuzberg in a Turkish family’s living room. Since it is not only one of the paintings best-known and loved by the public, but has also fallen into disrepute thanks to Hitler’s admiration of the artist and his works, Ulay’s demonstration gives a clear sign. His co…
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