Tracey Emin : On the tent (2002)

A Q&A with the "bad girl" of British art.

ADP magazine 3(1): Somewhere between “Fook off” and “KunstLeaks”
Reposted 03 April 2011
Page 6 of 6

Tracey Emin : On the tent 6/6

Tracey Emin. ("The tent":) Everyone I ever slept with 1963-1995, (1995). Appliqued tent, mattress, and light, 48 x 96 1/2 x 84 1/2"

R.J. Preece: With the tent, the piece itself is constructed with media sensation in it.

Tracey Emin: That isn’t why I made it though. But I realize it now, and I could never make it again—because I’ve done it, and I was at such a moral high ground as well. I’d think twice about the names I put in it. I spent weeks looking for the perfect tent. Didn’t even think about Mario Merz’s igloos, or Joseph Beuys— didn’t think about that stuff. I just thought, this is the perfect tent, with a perfect lining that I could sew in. I wrote out a list of names of everyone I had ever slept with—it was really difficult—almost like carving gravestones. I was having to go into the recesses of my mind, because the idea of forgetting someone would have failed the whole thing. In 1986, people couldn’t turn on the TV without hearing about AIDS, HIV, and safe sex—and then nothing for years. A couple of my close friends died of AIDS, and so I was quite aware of it. I was thinking that everyone has forgotten it and is shagging everyone. When people go inside the tent, they come out trying to remember everyone they ever slept with. And it worked—from reading the experiences in my life, they started to think about their own.

R.J. Preece: Do you see your work as exploring different focal points? I see a concentration on the choice of subjects, the societal context, in the compositions, and also in your titles.

Tracey Emin: I think about what I do—not whether it will grab attention, but whether it’s aesthetically “right.” I’m calculated, I’m editing and working things out constantly. Like with the blankets, I might draw it out. Making a blanket is like doing a painting. You cut layer and layer, take off a layer, working this, changing this. It takes a long time. When I have an exhibition, I usually arrange it so that if people want to, they can spend two hours there. That way, people who like it don’t feel cheated when they go. I want them to walk into the exhibition space and look low and at other levels and angles. The same with emotions. I want them to be emotionally manipulated, to come out feeling something. I want them to laugh, smile, feel sad. Even if they feel angry, that’s okay.

R.J. Preece: You have several solo shows coming up, and you’re writing a script for a feature film. You also want to design swimming pools. Is there anything else that [readers] should know?

Tracey Emin: The next big sculpture that I’m making is a bridge. In Cyprus, there’s a disused copper mine, and the railway track for the cargo comes down from the mine to the sea. It’s all eroded and gone. For about 200 meters, there’s this rustic and mad, demonic, chaotic, twisted bridge that goes along there. I want to make a representation of that for my show in Oxford—about 20 meters long.

R.J. Preece: You also mentioned something about a novel.

Tracey Emin: A couple of years ago, I was supposed to write a novel—a stream-of-consciousness sort of novel, and I couldn’t think of anything more depressing to do.

R.J. Preece: Why is that?

Tracey Emin: Because I’ve done it. About growing up and that kind of thing. Writing about how terrible it was when I was eight years old. This goes back to your mate who says I’m “re-branding” myself. Maybe I’ve worked so hard to become better, that I don’t have to go back there anymore.

NB. Back story: It took Preece some time to get agreement for this interview. Tracey Emin was reportedly not happy with his review of Emin’s Lehmann-Maupin show. However, after some back-and-forth with her press representative, intention was clarified and the interview was considered an opportunity to relook at things.

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