Marina and Ulay: A Cautionary Tale

After twelve years of satisfying collaboration with her partner, Ulay, Marina Ambrović, the Yugoslavian-born performance artist, decided their final performance would be to say goodbye to each other. Each walked half the length of the Great Wall of China—Ulay began in the Gobi desert and Marina at the Yellow Sea—after 2500 kilometers, they met and parted and never spoke again.

My student, Molly, was floored by this. “Just seems weird,” she said. “Why would they do that?”
“Art?” I said.
“But how could you just walk away from someone you loved for that long?”
“Art?” I said again.
“But who would choose art over love?”