The path to appreciating art is not a linear one. So many exhibitions and so many practitioners out there…that one can feel numbed. Luckily, out of the average ambiant noise some electroshocks happen. And this is what happened today with Marina Abramović’s retrospective @royalacademyarts. The magnitude of her work is such, that, at first, the cynical would say ‘I’ve seen it all before’ and yet…it is not until you face Abramovic’s charismatic performances that you found yourself saying ‘now, I understand’. The uncompromising intentionality of the work hits you in the face as soon as you enter the space. Abramovic performances are so conceptually sophisticated and yet completely accessible that one could intellectualise for hours on their internal mechanisms and their unique participatory qualities. But this would be missing the point. These are works that cut right into the fabric of what makes us human. It is about the power of the mind over the body, the humility in front of the forces of nature. It is about love, life, and death on the altar of spirituality. It is an exhibition that changes you, there is a before and an after.