"Getting my mother to surrender to passion, sex, and feelings has been a great liberation."

BarcelonaMarina Abramović's (Belgrade, 1946) status in the art world is so internationally recognized that she can consider doing practically anything and find the support to achieve it. This is the case with a multidisciplinary, large-scale, and sexually explicit installation such as Balkan Erotic Epic (Balkan Erotic Epic), co-produced by six international cultural institutions, arrives at the Gran Teatre del Liceu from January 24 to 30. After its premiere in Manchester with seventy artists performing all the scenes simultaneously, a reduced theatrical version will be presented in Barcelona, ​​with 34 performers bringing to life thirteen consecutive scenes that allude to Yugoslavian history and folklore, many of which involve the vagrant and cows as a connection to the universe. With this change, the performance is extended to four hours, during which the audience can enter and leave the theater, but will be required to seal their mobile phones; admission is restricted to those over 18 due to the knots and simulated sex scenes.

For Abramović, a pioneer and major figure in performance art, it's a triple return "to the origin of the world," she says, referring to Gustave Courbet's painting, because it speaks of her home, her mother, and sex. In fact, the work begins with the funeral procession of Josip Broz Tito, the leader of communist Yugoslavia who led the partisan resistance against the Nazis during World War II. "Not only because it was sexy, but because it changed my life. It was the end of an important period in my life, the end of my country, a country that no longer exists because now there are seven," she explains. "I belong to the old country. I come from the Balkans; it's my home, and wherever I go, even if I live in New York, they can't take away the Balkans."

Nudity as poetry

The work stems from a 25-year search into ancient rituals performed throughout the Balkans—Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and parts of Greece and Turkey—whether to express love for children or to plant crops, that is, to celebrate life. For example, the work includes the scene Breast massagewhere women touch their breasts on graves to awaken the earth, or Scaring the Godswhere women run to the fields, lift their skirts, and bare their vaginas to the sky to ward off the rains that were preventing planting. "I needed time to return to my origins, the most painful place in my life, the one I experienced as a child," says Abramović. "I had only made one film years ago, but it takes age and wisdom to create this spectacle."

The artist states that the challenge was "to do something that everyone said was impossible because there was too much nudity." She let go to create "with total freedom" and has ended up making the biggest production of her career. "We are not used to looking at nudity poetically; our culture often associates it with pornography, especially the female body," she laments. "We try to elevate the human body to give it a poetic meaning. Media such as the New York Times They said we use vaginas as weapons. It's very pure, it's where we come from, the performers surrender to its power, I'm very happy."

One of those who capitalizes on this explicit sex is the figure of her mother, played by two actresses. "I had a difficult relationship with my mother. She was a national heroine, she received two war medals. She was a staunch and strict communist. She never surrendered to emotions, she never kissed me in my entire life. Here I have my mother surrender to passion, to sex, to feelings, she goes naked and ends up having a threesome, these are things she never did in her life. It has been an incredible liberation, it has been therapeutic. Every time I see my mother on stage I feel better and better," says Abramović.

A "new art form"

Balkan Erotic Epic It has the unique characteristic of uniting all disciplines. There are performance pieces, but also dance, theater, electronic music, live bands and singers, audiovisual projections, and animation. It is the first time that the performer It delves into areas like dance and animation. "I'm very happy to be able to say that it's a new art form that has never been done before. It's very revolutionary, it's not normal. It's demanding for the audience, but it's a unique experience," says Abramović. She considers "opera to be outdated." She only approached it a couple of years ago with the 7 Deaths of Maria Callaswhich was also performed at the Liceu, and he doesn't seem to want to return. "When I do something, I move on to something else," he says. However, he has at least a couple more years to tour this show around the world. "I hope they don't lock us up in Hong Kong for the nudity!" he says, smiling. He also claims it's the funniest work he's ever done.

Looking back on his influential artistic career, full of iconic performances that have gone down in history, the artist says he has gained depth. "At first, I just wanted to push my body to the limit. Then I understood that the spiritual aspect played a crucial role, and I incorporated it into the work. This led me to long-duration performances, extremely difficult but which allow me to connect with the audience and truly be present. That's why at 65, I could do things that were more demanding with my body than with my body, with my body than with my body, with my body, with my body, with my body, with my body, with my body, with my body, Liceu presentation.

In fact, Abramović says she only intended to create and direct the work, but in the end, she "couldn't resist" and appears dancing in a couple of scenes, one of which is new. In the first, she appears half-sleepwalking in a kind of tavern "where anything can happen, where people drink, dance, connect with sex, spirits, with zones of freedom"—there's even a homoerotic relationship between two historically antagonistic countries. In the second, she does a kind of nostalgic dance. "In the Balkans we are always unhappy, even more so when we are in the country and when we are not. We never have peace of mind," she states. Amused, Abramović says she was "disappointed" to see that the show didn't receive negative reviews in Manchester, because she imagined it would be "hell," but she is looking forward to Barcelona; she would be thrilled. "I have been doing performance art for 60 years. This year I turn 80: I don't have to prove anything to anyone," she declares.