The problem with Tracey Emin

Published on Tuesday 2 December 2008 21:34

WHEN is it, exactly, that work by the controversial artist Tracey Emin can be said to be "accidentally damaged"? Indeed, might accidental damage by members of the public be part of the creative angst of the artist?

These are big questions for the Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh. An exhibition of work by Ms Emin proved to be accident- prone when visitors managed to smash pieces of a sculpture. The damage was done to Emin's Self Portrait: Bath during the exhibition in August, when a piece of neon was broken after clothing became snagged on barbed wire. Another piece, Feeling Pregnant III, was damaged when someone backed into it and the wooden stand came adrift. Even bumbling staff, it appears, managed to punch holes in the back of Emin's My Uncle Colin – a tribute to a relative killed in a car accident – while hanging it.

In another era, such incidents would be seen as unfortunate. But today, can we be certain? Much of Ms Emin's oeuvre relates to the public as "stricken", or "troubled", reflecting the dysfunctionality and psychological disjointedness of much of modern life. So are these incidents "accidents" in a real sense? Or might they be unconscious extensions of the artist's intention? The problem with Ms Emin is that we cannot really be sure. And therein lies the haunting enigma of her work.