Marina Abramović has spent 50 years using her own body as the primary vessel of her art. She’s endured pain and exhaustion in performances of long duration that have become landmarks of the form. Her practice has always drawn on the folklore and ritual traditions of the Balkans, that particular territory of lamentation, eroticism, and folk magic in which she grew up. “Balkan Erotic Epic” began in 2005 as a series of video works rooted in the Balkan folk belief that erotic acts performed in nature—women exposing themselves to the rain, or men masturbating in the fields—could appease the gods and ensure fertility and protection. The work treats the body as a site of spiritual meaning, somewhere between prayer and protest. Berlin’s Gropius Bau presents an exhibition of filmic and sculptural installations along with live performances. —Elena Clavarino