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How do you end a relationship in a thoughtful and eloquent way? An artist applied creative thinking and found a way of splitting up from their partner that was wise, kind and sensitive.
Many couples break up in a shallow, insensitive way. Maybe after an argument, by text or when one partner least expects it. The distinguished artist Marina Abramovic found a creative way to deal with the end of her decade-long partnership with partner Ulay (Frank Uwe Laysiepen).
The two artists had lived as a couple but also worked together. Most of their work explored their relationship. They opened themselves up to each other and revealed their most vulnerable and human feelings. For instance, in the work Breathing In, Breathing Out, Ulay and Abramovic connected their mouths and inhaled each other's breaths until they ran out of oxygen and collapsed on the floor, unconscious.
After twelve years together, Marina and Ulay decided to end their relationship and also their collaboration as artists. In 1988, to honor of their break-up, they performed an epic work called The Lovers. The ninety-day piece of performance art consisted of them walking one thousand two hundred miles toward each other from opposite ends of the Great Wall of China. They met in the middle, said goodbye and parted. Their journey demonstrated an equal contribution to their breakup that was also, a celebration of their time together. They applied creative thinking not just to their work but also to their lives and thought sensitively about how to break up with grace and dignity.
More examples of how creative thinking can be applied to your life and can be found in my new book The Art of Creative Thinking.
