Marina Abramovic, a serbian ‘performance artist’ and sophisticated cult leader of an aggressive ‘in your face’ form of conceptual art, made her international rputation appearing in an eight hour performance where memebers of the audience were invited to use a variety of selected objects to nurture, feed, abuse or humiliate her.

later representing Serbia in the Venice Bienale at the hieght of the Bosnian conflict she appeared on a ple of rotting beef bones, vainly scrubbing them clean

The retrospective at the RA returns to her early works, many of them made with her partner. Uly Uly , in a series of films made over time they shout, hit, bump into, threaten with arrows in distrubing sequences.

these actions are described in short instructions, enabling the work to be repeated by other ‘actors’. Currently Abramovic trains young artists in breathing techniques, and to remain motionless for hours. Two were posed naked in a doorway between galleries prompting participants to squeeze between them in a too familiar way. Another posed on a wall as a living naked crucifiction

the audience was bemused and looked uncomfortable

After Uly and Marina split on a long walk along the Great Wall of China and less angry more reflective artist appears. Two beautiful large vases, one matt, the other gloss are distinctive and impressive

Abramovic appears in later work, still or sleeping

I was interested in the uncritical and craven behaviour of the visitors. Abramovic is messianic and troubling. I think her early work was very intersting, her scrubbing bones in Venice was important and seminal, her later meidiative pieces are pretty, her crucifix is awful