Marina Abramović’s wildest work? A look at full-frontal folklore in ‘Balkan Erotic Epic’
In Marina Abramović‘s Balkan Erotic Epic, the “grandmother of performance art” beats Matthew Barney at his own game.
In the piece, Abramović explores pagan Serbian fertility rituals and the use of sex magick to affect everyday life. One example is how a woman would keep a fish tucked into her vagina overnight and then make a powder of it to add to her man’s coffee. After he drinks it, he will never stray… or at least that’s the idea.
The original 2005 work and multi-channel video installation explored how sexuality was defined in Balkan pagan traditions. Abramovic researched Serbian folklore and discovered many instances of the employment of eroticism to address everyday issues. For example, if it rained too much, the women of the village would run into the fields and lift their skirts in an attempt to scare the gods and end the rain. Sweeping cinematic projections and animations play alongside contextual readings as Abramovic and amateur actors dress in traditional costumes and reanimate myth.
“Balkan Erotic Epic is the most ambitious work in my career,” Abramović said when describing the work. “This gives me a chance to go back to my Slavic roots and culture, look back to ancient rituals and deal with sexuality in relation to the universe and the unanswered questions of our existence”.
“Through this project I would like to show poetry, desperation, pain, hope, suffering and reflect our own mortality.”
Marina Abramović
Through eroticism, the human attempts to make himself equal with the gods. In Balkan folklore, men and women sought to preserve indestructible energies through the use of the erotic. They believed that erotic energy was something non-human that could only come from higher forces.
Various explicit acts were performed for a variety of purposes; to promote the growth of crops, to heal a sick child, to protect against evil spirits and so forth.
Abramovic’s interest lies in what can be learned from these ancient traditions viewed now in a contemporary context.
Now, Balkan Erotic Epic will be given its world stage premiere in Manchester at Aviva Studios between October 9th and 19th. Abramović commented that work will tackle how “in our culture today, we label anything erotic as pornography”.
“This is incredible, the idea of the power of a vagina to stop the rain,” she said in a new interview. “This is a ritual I’m going to do in Manchester with 24 dancers… so you can imagine the effect on the English.”
“Today – the political correctness we’re living in, so that you can’t even tell a dirty joke – none of these works would be allowed,” she added. “I think today they’ve really cut the freedom of an artist.”
This is seriously, seriously NOT safe for work, you have been warned…
