Everyone I Have Ever Slept With (1963-1995) by Open Window

AN INTERPRETATION AND CRITIQUE

ACADEMIC ESSAY

Marié van Urk 231043

12 JUNE 2024

List of Figures

Figure 1 Everyone I Have Ever Slept With (1963-1995) also known as The Tent by Tracey Emin, Installation, Fabric and embroidery. 7

INTRODUCTION

In the following essay I will discuss the artwork Everyone I’ve Ever Slept With 1963-1995 or The Tent (1995) by British artist Tracey Emin. I will analyse the potential meaning of this piece through a hermeneutic spiral which will consider my own interpretation, the interpretations of other academics, the artwork itself, as well as the words and intentions of Emin herself. In my opinion, this artwork mainly aims to expose the intimacy of human connection ( Another , 2023), and includes subtle themes of feminism (Zhu, 2022 pg.310). I will apply the theories of John Berger and Susan Sontag to critique my conclusions, while hopefully gaining further insight into my personal biases and the biases of those included in the hermeneutic process.

DISCOVERING THE TENT THROUGH THE HERMENEUTIC SPIRAL

Everyone I have Ever Slept With (see figure 1) is an installation piece that was first exhibited at the South London Gallery in 1995. The artwork consists of a pitched tent, constructed of blue fabric, with fabric patches and stitched on letters and numbers showing the name of the artwork on the outside of the tent. The flaps of the tent are open and tied back and there is a light bulb shining from inside the tent. The interior of the tent is covered in fabric patches with stitched on letters on them, which spell out names. There are a total of 102 names (Britanica, 2024) on the inside of the tent, some of which are small and nondescript, while others are large and use vibrantly coloured and/or patterned fabric.

My first reaction when viewing this artwork was to associate the tent, fabric patches and stitched-on letters with childhood and innocence. This is in complete juxtaposition to the title of the artwork stitched to the outside of the tent, which points to adult themes. I immediately interpreted the title as referring to Emin’s sexual partners during the timeframe mentioned, and my first reaction as one of discomfort. This feeling did not stem from any form of judgement

Everyone I Have Ever Slept With (1963-1995) also known as The Tent by Tracey Emin, Installation, Fabric and embroidery.

Note: Tracey Emin 1995

FIGURE

towards Emin’s sexual activities, or the number or types of names in the tent. I did however question the relevance of sharing this highly personal information with everyone that viewed this artwork, as well as the ethics of sharing these names with the world. Once I started reading the names on the inside of the tent my perspective shifted, as I realised that the title refers to every person Emin has ever shared a bed with in the most literal sense (Britanica, 2024), as opposed to only those people Emin has been sexually involved with. Names on the tent walls included those of Emin’s immediate family members, lovers, platonic friends, and her two aborted foetuses (Britanica, 2024).

This revelation changed my interpretation of the artwork to some degree, and I berated myself for jumping to conclusions about the sexual nature of the artwork’s meaning. The artwork regained a measure of guilelessness and innocence. The combination of the enclosed tent, the light in the tent and the names embroidered on the walls conveys a sense of intimacy and closeness, both in the physical sense of an enclosed warm shelter and the emotional closeness of finding peace in the presence of someone else. In 2023 Emin was interviewed by Another Magazine and when asked about the meaning of this artwork she answered “It was about intimacy. Who I had shared a bed with” ( Another , 2023).

This artwork also contains feminist subthemes. Although the artwork’s focus is not the number of people Emin has been sexually intimate with, the fact remains that those names are shared with the viewer. This can be seen as an expression of feminism, as it goes against the societal view that the male partner often plays a protagonistic role in the sex lives of women (Berger, 1988 pg. 46 ). By displaying the names of her sexual partners in this artwork, Emin opposes this view and owns her sexual freedom as a woman. At the same time, it should be kept in mind that the artist has stated throughout her career that her art is not feminist (Zhu, 2022 pg. 310), and also explicitly mentions that this specific artwork is “not about sex” ( Another , 2023). By denying the themes of feminism and sexual freedom for women, Emin implies that

these values should be so ingrained in society that there should be no need to promote it or prompt its discussion through art. This in itself can be seen as a feminist act (Zhu, 2022 pg. 311).

DISCOVERING THE TENT THROUGH THE HERMENEUTIC SPIRAL: A CRITICAL DISCUSSION

In her essay Against Interpretation , Susan Sontag outlines the idea that our society has a tendency to over analyse the art we view, in an attempt to demystify the meaning that the artist intended (Sontag, 1964 pg. 2). According to Sontag, focusing on this intellectual exercise overshadows the emotion the viewer feels when seeing an artwork (Sontag, 1964 pg. 2). She subsequently calls for the Erotics, the emotion elicited in the viewer, to remain the main purpose of art (Sontag, 1964 pg. 10). As a visual culture student, I have been taught to critically analyse the art I view on the basis of neo-Marxist teachings, in a post fourth wave feminist society. Subsequently, I felt obligated to interpret what meaning Emin intended to convey with this artwork. However, when viewing the artwork, my first reaction was indeed an emotional one—a combination of childish glee associated with a tent pitched inside a building, and a feeling of deep discomfort elicited by the title of the artwork, prominently displayed on its exterior. If viewing this installation in person, my feeling of discomfort might well have prevented me from entering the tent and reading the names displayed inside, which means that I would not have discovered Emin’s literal interpretation of ‘Everyone I Ever Slept With’. In this instance I therefore have to disagree with Sontag: if I did indeed focus only on the emotions this artwork elicited, I probably would not have examined this artwork further, and also would not have realised that I, as society as a whole often tends to do, immediately focused on the possible sexual implications of the artwork. At the same time, I have to acknowledge that my bias towards intellectual analysis and my tendency to

disregard my emotions, that Sontag’s theories suggest I prioritise, was well and truly exposed by my reaction to this artwork.

In 1969 Walter Benjamin wrote The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction . Benjamin suggests that viewing the original form of an artwork allows the viewer to experience its aura (Benjamin, 1969 pg. 4), and that this experience is lost once an artwork is reproduced— the act of reproduction permanently alters the aura of the original (Benjamin, 1969 pg. 4). I have never seen The Tent in person and subsequently did not experience its aura. Yet I still felt that I was equipped and entitled to perform a hermeneutic interpretation of this artwork. I am a part of Generation Z and as such have never felt limited by the experiences I could have in person, because I have the internet at my disposal. I therefore tend to disregard the value of an artwork’s aura. My interpretation of The Tent and emotions it elicited in me would probably have been completely different if I had experienced it in person.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion I had a complex reaction to The Tent accompanied by a large range of emotions. I do however feel that I performed a successful hermeneutic interpretation, fusing the horizons of myself, the artwork, the opinion of other academics and the artist, in this case Tracy Emin. I came to the conclusion that the main theme of this installation is intimacy with sub themes of feminism and innocence. In addition to this I critiqued my interpretation using the theories of Sontag to expose my bias toward intellectual analysis of art. I also used the theories of Benjamin to expose the fact that I do not attach enough value to the aura of artworks.

REFERENCES

Another. (2023, June 8). 50 Questions with Tracey Emin. https://www.anothermag.com/artphotography/14919/50-questions-with-tracey-emin-my-bed-the-tent-interview-2023

Benjamin, W. (1969). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. SchockenBooks.

Berger, J. (1988). Ways of Seeing. Penguin.

Britannica. Kuiper, K. (2024, May 6). Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995. https://www. britannica.com/topic/Everyone-I-Have-Ever-Slept-With-1963-1995

Everyone I Have Ever Slept with by Tracey Emin. (2024). https://www.singulart.com/en/ blog/2024/02/09/everyone-i-have-ever-slept-with-1963-1995/

Sontag, S. (1964). Against Interpretation. Penguin.

Zhu, W. (2022). A Postfeminist’s Entanglement with The Feminist Cause -Tracy Emin International Journal of Social Science and Humanity.