Tracey Emin: A Second Life

Badly designed exhibition at Tate Modern presenting work by Tracey Emin over 40 years.

I found the show badly arranged and claustrophobic. There are video installations on the main walk through not inside rooms so the pathway fills up and if you don’t want to stand and watch you have to push through. A lot of the art is quite wordy so people stand for ages trying to make out the handwriting.

There are no information boards just labels. Are we meant to use an app instead? Please make that clear if that is correct? It assumed people already knew Emin’s story, which I did, but if you didn’t you might feel quite lost and the work could feel random.

I wonder if it’s deliberate in a show full of angst to try to induce anxiety. I lasted 20 minutes.

I’m not a great fan of Emin’s work as I find it quite introspective but often individual pieces can be very moving and these shine through. It was lovely to see the bed again and I loved a crucifixion painting. I liked the quilts but in the space it was hard to study the detail.

Closes 31 August 2026


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