Marina Abramovic, artist: Now that I can afford to have bad reviews, I can't find any'

"Along her journey to the origins of her own world to the rural Yugoslavia she knew as a child Marina Abramovic, 79, has paid homage to the French painter Gustave Courbet: in the fourth scene of Balkan Erotic Epic, several women show their vaginas to the audience. This ancient ritual was taught to me by my grandmother and was used to stop torrential rains, says the Belgrade-born artist and performance pioneer, from a dressing room at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona."

"On Saturday, January 24, she premiered an immersive show that fuses ancestral Balkan myths and folk traditions linked to the fertility of the body and the land. Today, people confuse eroticism with pornography, she explains to EL PAIS via video conference. This is because we have lost the ability to see nudity in a poetic way. Balkan Erotic Epic is the culmination of 25 years of research. I just managed to make a tiny new form of art [with this performance], she says."

"Marko Nikodijevic's music blends electronica with ceremonial chants from the Middle Ages, while Blenard Azizaj's choreography such as a violent traditional knife dance pushes the stage experience to its limits. All of this is helped along with the animations by Spanish artist Sonia Alcon. From the very beginning, this project was conceived collectively, Abramovic explains. She leads a group of 70 performers."

Marina Abramovic, 79, premiered Balkan Erotic Epic on January 24 at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. The immersive performance fuses ancestral Balkan myths and folk fertility rituals, including a fourth scene where several women expose their vaginas as an ancient rain-stopping ritual taught by the artist's grandmother. The production blends Marko Nikodijevic's electronica and medieval ceremonial chants, Blenard Azizaj's choreography including a violent traditional knife dance, and Sonia Alcon's animations. The project grew from 25 years of research, involves 70 performers, and invites active audience participation to transform observation into communal presence.

Read at english.elpais.com