Balkan Erotic Epic

Marina Abramović is regarded as the world’s most influential performance artist and has created transformative work at the Armory that has captivated audiences and critics alike including The Life and Death of Marina Abramović (2013) and Goldberg (2015), which both beautifully documented her upbringing and her artistic practice. She returns with the highly anticipated North American premiere of her largest-scale performance work to date, combining dance, song, and ritual to explore desire, spirituality, cultural tradition, and our connection to nature.

Born in the Balkans and deeply influenced by its sacred practices, Abramović revisits ancient mythologies and folklore related to the erotic rituals of the region, rediscovering the past and presenting it in a new light. Brought to life by a cast of nearly 50 performers including dancers, musicians, and singers, the bold, new Armory commission unfolds across thirteen visceral scenes, each drawing on ancestral traditions, legends, and beliefs focusing on the erotic not as mere provocation, but as a vital spiritual and life force. Audiences are invited to navigate the Wade Thompson Drill Hall freely, encountering intimate performances, feverish dances, and haunting songs. The resulting durational performance work merges elements of performative tradition with sensuality and eroticism, removing the modern associations with pornography or taboo to highlight the limits of human experience and reclaim the body as a site of power, mystery, and transformation.