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The Russian Dog and the Little Devil: The Gendered Studio Practice of Marina Abramović and Ulay, 1976 - 1980
Escalante, Maria Isabel
Escalante, Maria Isabel
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Abstract
Marina Abramović and Ulay’s practice was unique in form and dynamics. Their domestic space and studio space were based in the movable confines of their Citroën van from 1976 to 1980. The van as a space and site of production, management, and domesticity has been overlooked by scholars. As an artist couple, the division of work in that space further complicates the issue and prompts us to look at the gendered dynamics of this legendary pair of performance artists. Art-historical and critical examination of their duo has largely limited itself to either their work or to a mysticized approach to their collaboration. Throughout the years, the rise in popularity of Marina Abramović as a solo artist has also prompted the erasure of Ulay’s effect not only on her work but in the history of performance art as a whole. This thesis will explore the collaboration between these two artists by retracing their collaboration between 1976 to 1980, including their respective roles in studio management and domestic labor; it will constitute their physical and conceptual actions by reviewing primary sources, such as interviews, photographs, videos, their manifesto, and their performances, as case studies for their gender distribution such as Imponderabilia, Talking about Similarity, and Relation in Movement. Finally, the thesis will examine the reception and legacy of their work, including canonization of their body of work before and after their separation, through video recordings of their past performances, documentaries in which both present their own point of view in retrospective, increasing museification of Marina Abramović’s work self-reflective re-enacting of her performances, and the reception of Ulay’s body of work.
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Thesis (B.A. in Art History, Minor in Art and Design)--John Cabot University, Fall 2024.
Date
2024
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Keywords
Performance art, Gender identity in art, Artists' studios, Performance artists
Citation
Escalante, Maria Isabel. "The Russian Dog and the Little Devil: The Gendered Studio Practice of Marina Abramović and Ulay, 1976 - 1980". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2024.