Marina Abramović is a defining figure in contemporary art. Since the beginning of her career in the early 1970s, the Serbian-born artist has turned the body into a site of experimentation and expression. Her pioneering works include Rhythm 0 (1974), in which she allowed audiences to use certain props on her however they wished. Also renowned is Rhythm 5 (1974), where she lay in the centre of a burning five-point star until she almost lost consciousness. Fast forward to 2010, and The Artist Is Present at MoMA saw Abramović sit in silence across from visitors every day for three months. These performances married endurance with empathy, complicity with loss of control, passivity with danger. They were, in every sense, groundbreaking.
Now, she returns to her Balkan heritage with a bold new work exploring desire, spirituality and our connection to nature. Balkan Erotic Epic, presented by Factory International at Aviva Studios, Manchester, is brought to life by a cast of over 70 performers, including dancers, musicians and singers. The production unfolds across 13 visceral scenes, each drawing on legends and beliefs from the region. In this piece, Abramović gets to the heart of questions that have defined her life’s work: where does the body end and the spirit begin? What lies beyond shame, fear and language?
This show draws from traditions spanning Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Roma and Traveller communities. The artist explains: “In our culture today, we label anything erotic as pornography. Balkan Erotic Epic is the most ambitious work in my career. 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 unanswered questions of our existence. Through this project I would like to show poetry, desperation, pain, hope, suffering and reflect our own mortality.” There is something sacred about this message, resisting modern perceptions of sexuality. They echo long-buried folk rituals that did not see the sensual as taboo, but rather as transcendence.
The 13 scenes are grounded in specific cultural practices and myths. Fertility Rite sees people writhe against the ground in a desperate call for fertility, whilst Massaging the Breast sees women gesticulate over graves to awaken the earth. Meanwhile, in Scaring the Gods, performers recreate an centuries-old ceremony by baring themselves to the sky to banish storms. The sections invite audiences to reclaim the body as a site of power, mystery and transformation. In addition to the performance, Balkan Erotic Epic: The Installation provides an opportunity for audiences to go behind the scenes and experience the set design and key works from the production at their own pace, from fertile forests to Balkan bathtubs and a life-size café. Audiences are invited to navigate the performance freely, with pop-up encounters punctuating the action, including intimate performances and haunting music.
The work’s presentation in Manchester marks the beginning of an international tour, starting with Barcelona in January 2026, before travelling to Berlin, New York and Hong Kong. This is the latest in a number of exhibitions that have seen Abramović push British audiences to reconsider how they view nudity and intimacy. Most notable is Imponderabilia, initially performed in 1977 and resurrected at London’s Royal Academy in 2023. The piece saw two naked figures – a man and a woman – stand in a doorway, requiring visitors to squeeze between them to enter. In a 2024 interview with the Telegraph, the artist said of the British public: “you’re so puritan about everything, about nudity, about sexual organs.”
At a time when bodies are politicised, pleasure is commodified and intimacy is fragmented, Abramović’s work represents a return to ourselves. It is a reclamation of feminine wisdom. In moving through the show, audiences become one with this process, urged to reconsider the body as a site of transformation.
Balkan Erotic Epic is at Aviva Studios, Manchester 9 – 19 October: factoryinternational.org
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1&5. Dancers Lucy Harries, Ting Lee and Marianna Syfridi in Scaring The Gods To Stop The Rain from Marina Abramović’s Balkan Erotic Epic. Photo: Marco Anelli © @marco_anelli_studio.
2. Tito’s Funeral from Marina Abramović’s Balkan Erotic Epic. Photo: Marco Anelli © @marco_anelli_studio.
3. Scaring The Gods To Stop The Rain from Marina Abramović’s Balkan Erotic Epic. Photo: Marco Anelli © @marco_anelli_studio.
4. Knife Dance from Marina Abramović’ Balkan Erotic Epic. Photo: Marco Anelli © @marco_anelli_studio.
