Frits Gierstberg, Katrin Pietsch, Ulay, What Is This Thing Called Polaroid?, 2016

Ulay • What Is This Thing Called Polaroid? focuses on the unique nature of Polaroid photography and the intimate relationship that the artist Ulay developed with this medium. Ulay has been exploring and stretching the possibilities of Polaroid since the 1970s, which resulted in radical and groundbreaking work. For him the unique and immediate character of each Polaroid photograph was, and still is, a perfect match for his performance and body art. The experiments that Ulay conducted even led him to start working inside the large format of Polaroid camera, radically merging the body of the artist with the body of the camera while the image is being created.
This book provides insights into Ulay’s artistic pursuits with Polaroid and also explains the historical background of Polaroid, technical innovations, the specific chemical processes, and the challenges of conserving Polaroid prints.