Alternative review of Tracey Emin's show, live from The Hayward.

Thought it might be interesting to just download my thoughts on the Tracey Emin show, without any editing, verbal diorrhea style, a la our heroine. Here's what I wrote: Very confessional. Does not try 2 rationalise thought. Some of the illustrations, words are back to front. They are a certain kind of print I think - monoprint. Sex obsessed. Enjoys her own pain? Feels she is fated to be alone. Sex as a divine experience. Autobiographical. Re. the pier sculpture, you can't actually reach the cabin, it remains an idea, a fantasy. I like 'Is legal sex anal?'. Turkish culture. Nice to see Tracey happy in 'Why I never became a dancer'. Makes me feel I'm not having enough sex. Her past catches up with her. Men (the local men in Margate) hate her.. even though they've all had sex with her - the contradiction - she's a slag for sleeping with them.. what are they? She's always trying to get her revenge on Margate. Exhibitionist. Hard hitting, stuff about abortion. Appreciated 'When you're sad you only see sad things'. True. Combination of words and objects in pieces like 'Wimsey', 1972-2003, is effective. Super 8. She's a twin! Conversations with my mum, 2001, explores generation gap between the artist and her mum. Her mum didn't think Tracey would be a good mum. "You wouldn't be where you are today dear.." (if you'd had children). Tracey: What if I get to a point in my life where I get bored with the narcissism?..where I want to see the world through someone else's eyes?.." Mum: "I don't want to see you tied with children" (like she was) On childbirth: "You never forget that pain".

By the time I've come full circle round the gallery, and am watching 'How It Feels', which incidentally, I think is one of the most effective pieces and holds a lot of clues to Emin's motivation as an artist, she's starting to resemble a bo-selecta mask. Bravado. Denial.

Performance Art

Have been obsessively watching a video on MOMA's website. My tutor mentioned Marina Abromovich during an end of term lecture, so I sought to find out more about her. I have discovered she is a legendary performace artist and that last year, MOMA held a retrospective of her work, which included the re-performance of many of her iconic pieces, and a new piece, called The Artist is Present. Performance artists re-performed her work, but Marina herself took centre stage for TAIP. What is compelling about the video, for me, is that it illuminates the world of performance art. All the artists  introduce themselves, and explain what else they do, outside of this project. There are dancers, singers, choreographers, directors, writers, and actors. A bohemian, raggle taggle mix of freelance workers who are passionate about what they do and get by by hook or by crook. All of them have the 'presence' and stamina needed to perform the work. They talk about the experience of performing, including the discomfort sometimes endured, and how transforming it can prove to be. In her new performance, Marina sat opposite volunteers and stared into their eyes, 7 hours a day for 3 months. It caused a lot of debate in the media, and bought Performance Art back under the spotlight.

I would really recommend watching the video, here is the link: http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/108