Marina Abramović spreads the love in one-off performance at the Royal Academy

The doyenne of performance art, Marina Abramović, vowed that she would not actually take part in any live works during her blockbuster show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London (until 1 January) following an embolism. But the robust Belgrade-born artist was determined to deliver a one-off performance on 11 December, imparting words of wisdom in the courtyard outside the RA (the free tickets for An Invitation to Love Unconditionally were snapped up in hours after the event was announced last week). A mass of followers were told to breathe deeply and repeat Marina’s words, reciting “we are transforming negativity” as they held each other (strangers clasped each other by the shoulder in a show of very loving solidarity). The love-in was interrupted, though, by shouts of “Free Palestine”, proving that not even Marina can keep the real world at bay.