Ulay (Uwe Laysiepen), From China Red: VIP Room, 1988–98
Chairs remain. Sunlight falls across the empty seats, transforming them into a gaze that seems to measure the viewer. Presence and absence are felt simultaneously: the empty room becomes charged with anticipation, while the stillness of the image suggests movement.
The work was created during the period when Ulay worked in China with Marina Abramović. During this time, the two also developed The Lovers, their iconic performance in which they walked towards each other from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China. Distance, the body and the space between two people became both physical and conceptual material.
Throughout his practice, Ulay explored identity, relationships, the body and the tension between presence and absence. In From China Red: VIP Room, these concerns become concentrated in a seemingly quiet image that draws the viewer into the space.