Tracey Emin : On the unmade bed (2002)
A Q&A with the "bad girl" of British art.
Tracey Emin : the unmade bed 4/6
R.J. Preece: Miranda Sawyer quotes you and writes: “I know people went to laugh at my bed and to jeer at it. Still,” sniffs Tracey, “at least they actually went to see it.”
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Tracey Emin UK tabloid coverage sample around My bed. Click the image to see a music journalism interpretation of Tracey Emin’s darker media coverage, featuring Stephen Mallinder of the legendary Cabaret Voltaire band.
Tracey Emin: Because of the amount of press attention, people went to see this dirty bed, as if it was a freak show. But when they got there, they saw something else—the bed, stuff on the walls, whatever. For the Tate, it’s the highest attendance they ever received for the Turner Prize show. There was a massive queue, and when you got into my bit, you couldn’t move.
R.J. Preece: So you think that some of the media representation framed it “to go to see a freak show.” Because My bed in New York…
Tracey Emin: The piece in New York was shit, right? I shouldn’t have shown it there. This really gives a lot away. When I set it up, I couldn’t get it to work right because the room was too small, and it made it look like a bed in a bedroom. The bed should have been the other way around. The whole idea was that My bed came out of a bedroom and into another space—that’s what made it art. In Japan, it was absolutely fantastic—in an old rice factory, in a very long room. Coming in, from a distance, it looked beautiful. With the lighting, you wanted to go to it. The bed was two-thirds up, and two neons were in the back—My cunt is wet with fear and Sobasex (both 1998)—they give you the whole idea immediately. There was a noose hanging as well. But when you got to the bed, you realized that it was disgustingly dirty—the slippers, the carpet, the sheets, the knickers— everything. It was the most theatrical show I’ve done. In the Tate, it was okay.
R.J. Preece: With My bed you have a noose hanging overhead...
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Tracey Emin. My bed (foreground), (1998).
Tracey Emin: It was up in Japan and New York (at Lehmann-Maupin, see review), but not in London. When I was making the bed, I was feeling so suicidal. I wanted something to represent that. I thought a noose would be good because it’s quite sculptural and a thing in itself. I had never tied a noose before, and didn’t know how. It just goes to show that if I was to commit suicide, I’d never hang myself. When I was in Japan, I had a great amount of— not fun— but almost an aesthetic kind of fun trying to make the noose. I enjoyed making it as an object, even though it’s sentimental, dramatic, and over the top.
R.J. Preece: When I saw the noose, I was thinking, “Will this artist be around in three years?” Metaphorically is the noose still there?
Tracey Emin: No, it’s definitely not there, otherwise I’d want to show it with the bed [at the Tate].
R.J. Preece: The Sawyer piece also quotes you as saying: “I don’t understand why people are nasty to me.”
Tracey Emin interview : Art, artist and media coverage - 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 - the unmade bed | 5 | 6 - the tent
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