Frank Uwe Laysiepen - Ulay
Active on the international art scene since the late 1960s, Frank Uwe Laysiepen, better known as Ulay, has been featured in numerous group shows and a number of solo exhibitions, yet his "I Other" exhibition at the City Art Gallery Ljubljana is his first major solo presentation in the region.
The exhibition starts with some of the key works in Ulay’s oeuvre, in which the artist focuses on his own body and its social alienation, and then goes on to engage us in a fascinating dialogue with presentations of his relations to his fellow humans, be it close friends or complete strangers, in keeping with the underlying conceptual premise of the show: to present Ulay’s work through the prism of his interpersonal relations, which constitute an integral part of his artistic practice.
In addition to certain projects that now form part of the canon of performance art and photography, the exhibition also puts on view the unknown, ephemeral documents of Ulay’s long career in art, showcasing often ignored artistic materials such as journals, drawings, travel photography, sound recordings, and so on. The "I Other" exhibition and catalogue constitute a space where the artist’s story can be read, a story of his incessant, untiring search for his identity, torn between diverse symbolic worlds, people, places, and media. Ulay’s life experiences are recorded in photographs, performances, drawings, anecdotes, and aphorisms, showing how he forges a relationship with every individual that enters his space.
While often very intimate, and intimately revealing in nature, Ulay’s works and projects nonetheless keep confronting viewers with social reality, indirectly expressing the artist’s standpoint on broader social issues. Ulay’s art can thus be said to be a highly insightful description of interpersonal relations in different times and places. "I Other" addresses the viewer with that which is all too often pushed away as “unattractive” and concealed behind the “notorious” and familiar images of Ulay’s artistic idiom, while it nonetheless directly expresses his uncompromising attitude to life itself.
More than merely the principal document of the "I Other" exhibition, this publication is also conceived as an afterword to it and the unique tale of it, recounting the idea ...
Colophon
Production: Museum and Galleries of LjubljanaExhibition curators: Alenka Gregorič & Tevž LogarArtist: Frank Uwe Laysiepen - UlayText: Alenka Gregorič & Tevž LogarDesign: Ajdin BašićPhotography: Matevž Paternoster, Andrej PeunikRealisation of the exhibition: Technical Service MGMLThe exhibition was made possible by: City of Ljubljana, Department for Culture and Goethe-Institut SlowenienSponsors: Goethe-Institut Slowenien, TAM-TAM & EuroplakatSpecial thanks: Lena Pislak, custodian of Ulay Foundation
Photogram "I Other" was executed in two parts: realization of the photogram on 29 November and signing it on 1 December 2016 at the City Art Gallery Ljubljana. Photo assistance by Peter Uhan. Support: Goethe-Institut Slowenien
Location
Mestni trg 5
1000 Ljubljana
General information:
T +386 1 24 11 785
E mestna.galerija@mgml.si
School programs:
T +386 1 24 12 506
E prijava@mgml.si
Public relations:
T +386 41 669 599
E mateja.dimnik@mgml.si
Opening hours
Tuesday–Sunday: 11:00–19:00
Monday: Closed
1 January, 1 November, 25 December: Closed
24 and 31 December: 11:00–14:00
Tickets
Free entry.
City Art Gallery Ljubljana is a dog-friendly gallery.
Press kit
News
On Thursday, 27th April, Ulay’s exhibition I Other opened at the Vivacom Art Hall gallery.
“A series of classical photo portraits of the homeless African American people in New York City of the 90s, in which the author, with great sensibility and as official portraits, immortalised people from the economic edge was a true surprise. A walk through the exhibition thus disclosed the most consistent of Ulay’s thematic emphases as is his testing of social codes’ borders and a ceaseless insight into various fringes.”