In the first 58-minute performance, Relation in Space, which took place in July 1976 at the Biennale in Venice, Abramović/Ulay, both naked, walk towards each other from opposite ends of a room, touching as they pass each other. They then repeat the movement while their bodies collide, and one of them (Marina) falls over under the impact, until they are both exhausted. A statically mounted video camera simultaneously filmed the touching of the bodies in the middle of the room.

In 1976, Abramović and Ulay had very recently met and started a 12-year romantic relationship that was also inseparable from their work. Relation in Space is a performance about how a couple – and a couple of artists at that – interact. It’s egos and expectations colliding into each other, but also a question of gender: Abramović claimed the idea was to have male and female energy put together to create something they called ‘That Self.’ Abramović and Ulay’s relationship continued to form a subject in their art throughout their relationship: Relation in Space is the first in a series of Relation works.

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As published on Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary’s website.