A polarizing Marina Abramović performance will make its US premiere next year as part of the 2026 program at the Park Avenue Armory in New York.
That four-hour piece, titled Balkan Erotic Epic, will have its first US performance on December 8 next year. Also slated to run at the Park Avenue Armory are pieces by artists Steve Reich and Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, as well as a Simone Stone production of The Cherry Orchard and a Benjamin Millepied dance work based on Romeo and Juliet.
All of these works will take place in the Drill Hall, the Park Avenue Armory’s cavernous space for performance art, theatrical productions, and more.
In a phone conversation, Rebecca Robertson, executive director of the Armory, said that these works offer “a new perspective on art and culture. The Drill Hall continues to be an extraordinary space that allows artists to challenge you intellectually.”
For many in the art world, Abramović’s Balkan Erotic Epic will be the main attraction. The performance is centered around fertility rituals, many of which are performed in the nude, and generally takes up traditions in the Balkan region, from which the artist hails. The work recently premiered in the UK; one review praised the piece for its ability to “make sex new again by making it ancient.”
Balkan Erotic Epic “makes you rethink taboos about how the body should work,” Roberts said. “I promise you, you will see what I mean when you see it.”
The Boursier-Mougenot piece, clinamen, was first conceived in 1997 and will appear at the Armory in June. It comprises multiple basins that are filled with water, upon which floats ceramic bowls that make sounds as they hit each other. The installation was on view this past summer at the Bourse de Commerce museum in Paris.
The Reich piece, Music for 18 Musicians, was first composed in 1976 and is considered a key work of experimental music. It will be restaged by conductor Alan Pierson to mark Reich’s 90th birthday.
Millepied’s Romeo & Juliet Suite is being billed as a piece that “reimagines” the classic Shakespeare play, situating dancers all across the Armory for the piece, which is being staged in association with the L.A. Dance Project and Paris Danse.
The Stone production of The Cherry Orchard is likewise a contemporary take on an old tale: the action of Anton Chekhov’s 1903 play has been transported to modern-day Seoul. Leading the Stone play is Park Hae-soo, who received an Emmy nomination for his work in the Netflix series Squid Game, and Jeon Do-yeon, who memorably appeared in Lee Chang-dong’s 2007 film Secret Sunshine.
“So many artists we work with do more than one art form,” Roberts said of these pieces. “They’re a little undefinable always, which is really exciting. And it’s often unexpected, which is what audiences expect from the Armory.”
She remained undaunted by the Trump administration’s crackdown on the arts, which she said would not impact her programming. “We’re doing what we do best, and we think that the arts should contribute the way they always have.”
