Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens are coming to Zagreb!
The legendary artistic and activist duo bring their unique blend of performance, film, and ecology to an evening that blurs the boundaries between art, love, and politics. Known for their concept of “ecosexuality,” Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens have spent decades provoking, inspiring, and opening new perspectives on the relationship between the body, nature, and society.
Join us for a special event featuring a film screening, a conversation with the artists, and a live performance.
PROGRAM
20:00 – 20:15 Introduction to the Film
20:15 – 21:30 Playing with Fire – Film Screening
21:30 – 22:10 Q&A Session, moderator: Zvonimir Dobrović
22:15 – 23:00 Wedding Ceremony Performance
Annie Sprikle & Beth Stephens: Playing with Fire
Playing with Fire is a mythopoetic documentary that rises from the ashes of a catastrophic forest fire. When long-time partners Beth and Annie evacuate their home with their dog, Butch, their lives are forever transformed. Through an ecosexual lens—imagining the Earth as a lover—the film interweaves voices of a formerly incarcerated firefighter, Indigenous scholars, fire artists, a witch therapist, a fire fetishist, a fire-tassel-twirling burlesque dancer, and Albert, their wild white peacock. Blending loss, humor, sensuality, art, and community care, the film reveals how climate disaster and social justice intersect—and how resilience and renewal can emerge from the flames.
Directors: Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle / Producers: Keith Wilson, Oana Tenter, Beth Stephens, Annie Sprinkle / Production Co: E.A.R.T.H. Lab SF / Executive Producers: Xandra Coe, Judy Meath, Julia Robertson, Joseph Kramer / Director of Photography: Jordan Freeman / Original Music: Guillermo Galindo / Editor: Diana J. Brodie
Annie Sprinkle is an American performance artist, sex educator, director, actress and activist. She was born on July 23, 1954 in Philadelphia, United States. During her career she became one of the most recognizable figures of the sex-positive feminist movement, known for work exploring sexuality, the body, intimacy and social norms.
Sprinkle began her career in the adult film industry in the 1970s before turning to experimental art, performance and education. She studied photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York, earning a degree in visual arts. Her works often combine autobiography, humour and political activism while questioning the boundaries between art, pornography and public education. One of her most famous performances is Public Cervix Announcement, in which audience members were invited to view her cervix using a speculum, in an effort to demystify the female body and encourage open discussions about sexual health. During the 1990s she developed numerous theatrical and educational projects on sexuality, including the well-known show Post-Porn Modernist.
In later stages of her career, together with her partner Beth Stephens, she developed the concept of ecosexuality—an artistic-activist approach connecting ecology, love of nature and sexuality. Their joint work includes performances, films, workshops and public ceremonies promoting ecological awareness and new relationships with the environment. Sprinkle’s work has been presented in museums, galleries and theatres worldwide and she is considered an important pioneer in feminist art, queer performance and sex education.
Beth Stephens is an American artist, professor and activist whose work connects performance, film, video, photography and ecological activism. She was born in 1960 in the United States. She is best known for artistic projects exploring the relationships between ecology, sexuality and body politics.
Stephens is a professor of art at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she teaches media art and performance. Her artistic and theoretical work frequently addresses feminist and queer approaches to ecology, particularly through the concept of ecosexuality developed together with her partner Annie Sprinkle. Their collaborative practices include performances, films, public ceremonies and workshops promoting the idea that nature can be viewed as a partner with whom humans develop intimate and ethical relationships. One of their well-known projects is the long-term artistic-activist cycle Ecosex Project, as well as the documentary film Goodbye Gauley Mountain: An Ecosexual Love Story.
Her work has been presented in museums, galleries and festivals worldwide, including institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and Tate
