Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin, 2010. Portrait by Brigitte Cornand

Before her death recently at the age of 98, Louise Bourgeois had just finished work on a series of prints with Tracey Emin, which they had collaborated on during the last two years of the artist’s life. Bourgeois had composed a series of 16 profiled torsos in gouache and Emin had ‘responded’ by adding drawings over them with text and ink.

Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin, "Looking For The Mother"

Their work together began when Ms. Bourgeois had agreed to meet Ms. Emin at her request.  Despite Ms. Bourgeois’ reputation of being a formidable woman, according to Emin, they had got along well and had agreed to take part in a drawing project. Ms.Bourgeois had always been surrounded by young people, and in spite of the age difference they found their work had many themes in common.

Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin, "A Million Ways To Come"

Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin, 'Just Hanging'

“We both work with recurring themes as well. Things that come again and again in our life, that don’t go away.  The damage may be done and you forget it, then it comes back again,” she said.

“Reliving one’s painful past” Emin continued, “is pretty healthy. You’re not holding it inside you; you are letting it go into the ether. “

The show of their collaboration opens at Carolina Nitsch gallery entitled, Do Not Abandon Me, 2009-2010, and a book is published of the works in a limited edition of 1,500

Louise Bourgeois and Tracey Emin - Do Not Abandon Me, 2009 - 2010, Courtesy of Carolina Nitsch Gallery

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All images Courtesy of Carolina Nitsch Gallery

Carolina Nitsch Gallery, Do Not Abandon Me, 2009-2010, September 9 – November 13, 2010, Carolina Nitsch Project Room, 534 W. 22nd Street, New York City, Opening September 9, 6-8pm

Hauser & Wirth, London, 18 Feb–22 March 2011

Interview with Tracey Emin can be viewed online at Issue#5 of Spread  p48

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010 Designed by Jean Nouvel© Ateliers Jean Nouvel Photo: Philippe Ruault

The Serpentine Gallery in London’s Hyde Park is having a slumber party right at the heels of their annual summer party, which took place around their 10^th and latest eye-catching Pavilion, designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel.

Nouvel’s scarlet Pavilion set the scene for the darlings of the British art set attending. Ron Arad, Antony Gormley, Gavin Turk, Dinos Chapman,  Sir Peter Blake, Grace Jones, Tracey Emin and model Lily Cole were among the guests invited to play ping-pong and tennis with champion players and have their heartbeats recorded by French artist Christian Boltanski’s installation The Heart Archive. Also on view in the permanent galleries inside was the summer show of new inkjet prints by Wolfgang Tillmans.

July 8 2010 Summer Party at Serpentine Gallery, London, England. L to R: Dinos Chapman and Keith Tyson, Sir Peter Blake and Chrissie Blake, Tracey Emin. Photo: Nick Harvey

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010 Designed by Jean Nouvel © Ateliers Jean Nouvel Photograph: Philippe Ruault

Julia Peyton-Jones, the director who had originally envisioned this fund-raising concept, hosted this 40^th anniversary party for the gallery with the new, much talked about co-director Hans Ulrich Obrist. This year’s Pavilion is built on impressive cantilevered structures painted in vivid red, set in dramatic contrast to the green of the Hyde Park lawns. Nouvel said in his opening speech, “I want more disorder in this place,” imagining a relaxed place for people to play. The Pavilion is canopied by large retractable awnings and a sloping freestanding wall that allows the park to inhabit the interiors.

Notable architects that had been invited in previous years to design the free-form Pavilion include Daniel Libeskind (2001), Frank Gehry (2008), and Rem Koolhaas/Cecil Balmond (2006). The architect Zaha Hadid who had designed the 2000 Pavilion also came along for the celebration.

Spending the night in the park may not be as sordid as it sounds, because as part of the summer program, the gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum are staging a sleepover event inside the Pavilion, beginning late at night with films, music, talks and a midnight banquet that will continue on until breakfast is served the next day at 8am. Artists, psychologists and scientists will host experiments throughout the night for the wired, sleepless guests to explore the psychedelic qualities of insomnia and alternative sleep-states.

Guests might be treated to some lullabies as well.

Sleepover at the Serpentine Pavilion: A night of creative thinking: 30-31 July 2010 from 10pm – 8am
Wolfgang Tillmans 26 June – 19 September 2010, Serpentine Gallery, Kensington Gardens   London W2

"Only God Knows I'm Good" by Tracey Emin, Photo: Ben Cohen

ARTINFO reports that “French fashion house Louis Vuitton has apparently decided to create a farm team of up-and-coming talent.” The South London Gallery will spearhead the Young Arts Project, working with the Tate Britain, the Royal Academy of Arts, Whitechapel Gallery, and the Hayward Gallery to provide a three-year program of workshops and tours to emerging artists. Artists such as Tracey Emin, Gary Hume, Michael Landy, and Keith Tyson will offer counsel to young artists that have been recruited from local schools and youth groups.

Tracey Emin appears in the next issue of SPREAD|Artculture, reinforcing the public’s perception of her as a polarizing figure. She tells writer Kiša Lala, “People either really love me or they hate me. I am not a halfway house. I am not insipid.” Pick up issue 5 of SPREAD|Artculture to learn more about Emin when it hits the stands June 14th.