Balkan Epic

Marina Abramovic was a pioneer in the use of performance art as a visual art form. The body has always been both her subject and medium. Exploring the physical and mental limits of her being, she has withstood pain, exhaustion, and danger in the quest for emotional and spiritual transformation. This volume documents Abramovic's Balkan series of video installations and performances created in the period from 1997 to 2005. The works confront us with the gaps between hope and total destruction, with heroism, idealistic passion, human warmth, and almost unbearable static situations. In her latest work, Balkan Erotic Epic, Abramovic creates new, surprising perspectives on archaic rituals that used erotic powers to influence fate and fortune. These powerful images talk to us about the disavowal of ancient practices, and about something buried deep in our consciousness.

Adelina von Furstenberg is the founder of the Centre for Contemporary Art in Geneva and directed Le Magasin, the Centre for Contemporary Art and school for curators, from 1989 to 1994.