Featured Image Credit: Marina Abramović Institute/YouTube
Topics: Marina Abramović, Art
Callum Jones
An artist who allowed spectators to do anything they liked to her body for six hours is set to return to the stage in the UK soon.
Marina Abramović is a Serbian conceptual artist, best known for her controversial 1974 art piece, where she allowed the public free rein to do whatever they pleased as she stood still.
Titled 'Rythmn 0', the six-hour endurance piece saw 72 objects, ranging from a rose, perfume, to scissors and a gun. Abramović said she would take 'full responsibility' for whatever happened to her. While things started seemingly tame, the spectator's actions became more extreme, with one person even cutting her neck to drink her blood.
The artist later admitted to The Guardian in 2014 that she was 'ready to die', adding: "How lucky I am."
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Since then, Abramović has done several other performance pieces, including one in which she achieved nine orgasms, and next month, she will be returning to the stage once again.
The 78-year-old's latest work is titled 'Balkan Erotic Epic', which she will perform in Manchester, UK, at Factory International from October 9-19.
In what she has called her 'most ambitious work', the show will feature a cast of 70 people, including dancers, singers, and musicians, all supporting the artist.
In an interview with The Guardian, she said the performance gives her the chance to 'go back' to her Slavic roots, and examine '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." she continued.
According to Factory International's website, the four-hour performance aims to 'explore the eroticism, spirituality and traditions of Abramović’s homeland through 13 visceral scenes', with audiences being encouraged to 'choose their own path', as 'pop-up encounters punctuating the action, bringing bodies together in dance, song and ritual'.
Scenes included in the art show include 'Scaring the Gods', 'Fertility Rite' and 'Massaging the Breast', with the latter's name explaining pretty well what is going on there.
Organisers have stated the event will be a four-hour ritual, and that audiences will be able to 'choose their own path'.
Factory International's website adds: "Unafraid to push the boundaries of eroticism and performance art, Balkan Erotic Epic asks its audience a timeless question:
"What are our bodies truly for?"
After it runs in the UK, Abramović's performance will be seen in Barcelona, Berlin, New York and Hong Kong.