I wanted to go to Late At Tate because I saw the event on Facebook and it seemed really cool. I wasn't sure if I would be able to go but I kept it in mind. Also it was free. Towards the end of the week I thought fuck it... might aswell try and go. I got the Oxford tube bus to London after work and google-mapped my way from a bus stop near Victoria coach station to the Tate Britain.
So before I read about this year's Late At Tate I had not heard of or seen Tracey Emin's artwork, My Bed, which is what the night was themed about. However after reading more about it and the discussions around the artwork, involving themes like sexuality, relationships and gender, I knew I'd be interested in whatever was happening on the night so I had to go and check it out. Also I had never been to Tate Britain.
Performance artists Liv Wynter and Travis Alabanza collaborated on a poetic response to Tracy Emin’s bed. I like Liv Wynter from previous things she has been involved with and I saw online that she would be performing something for Late at Tate and I really wanted to see it. Luckily I got there literally just as she began performing at half 7. I walked in and asked someone where the spoken word stuff was happening straight away and I'm glad I did cause it was right at the back and I would have missed it if I started wondering around looking for it from the entrance.
"Travis Alabanza and Liv Wynter: Spoken Word Performance
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Tracey Emin’s artworks are often provocative, raw and emotional, drawing on experiences from her personal life, from her sexual history, abuse and abortion to gender and relationships. Performance artists Travis Alabanza and Liv Wynter deliver a poetic response to Emin’s My Bed exploring some of these themes.
Travis Alabanza is a Black, queer, non binary performance artist who uses live poetry, visuals and sound to create art centred around race, gender and class. Liv Wynter is a queer female artist who uses an anarchic and punk exploration of language, rap and poetry performance to bring attention to issues such as trauma, recovery, abuse, sexual violence and identity to challenge the idea of intimacy and without compromise."
It was a really great performance and I
feel like Travis and Liv speak so clearly about the difficult and confusing
stuff happening to us, stuff that I think feels really lonely and contained in
our minds cause the feelings are so messed up. They absolutely call out the
crap that people they date try and pull, which is so powerful to hear spoken so
honestly, like, it hurts and it's not okay. It's not okay to be like, "if
you just change this or do that, or be more 'normal' then we MIGHT be
cool." It's difficult to hear that shit over and over in vulnerable
relationship situations, especially in the queer community, and remain confident and strong without being
overwhelmed with self-doubt. It's so satisfying to hear words completely
capturing those uncomfortable, horrible, awkward and unfair messed up bullshit
feelings that are confusing in relationships. I really liked it, I want them to be everywhere and heard more.
I don't have a video of Travis and Liv's performances from the evening but this is a video from youtube of Liv Wynter's spoken word performance, Body Apologies.
I met Daniel there, who i met at the Polyester zine
launch party I went to in February. It was really cool to hang out with him
again, he is awesome. We walked around the Tate Britain with a beer and he
showed me around. There was loads of cool stuff going on, I wish I could have
got there earlier to see everything properly, and had time to play at the Zine
Making Workshop. I can't believe I haven't been to a zine workshop yet, I always hear about them too late or they are too far to travel to with short notice.
"Laid Bare: A Zine Making Workshop
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This drop-in workshop with artist Rudy Loewe invites you to create a zine exploring your own truths around gender and sexuality.
Rudy Loewe’s practice includes drawings, comics, illustrations and prints. Loewe uses satire and comedy to explore a wide range of social issues including racism, sexuality, gender, disability and mental health."
Exploring more around the exhibition we could see something being set up and people all gathering onto a huge white duvet on the floor, looking at the programme we saw it was the Bedfellows performance/discussion about to start and decided to stay and watch.
Bedfellows: SEX TLK MTG 20:15-21:00
"Fluid Sharing: Sex education with Bedfellows
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Part performance part guided conversation, artist collective Bedfellows will tackle some of the themes in Tracey Emin’s work. Sit down with Bedfellows for a guided discussion and share resources about sex, desire, consent and relationships. Through various material and performative means, the conversation is guided from large group conversations to smaller one-on-one interactions or little break out groups. Bedfellows is a sex education research project led by artists Chloe Cooper, Phoebe Davies and Jenny Moore and born from the personal, the political, and the professional."
We joined everyone on the duvet. What happened was Bedfellows showed us something projected onto a white duvet cover they held up, and then they asked everyone to discuss how we felt about what we saw with whoever was surrounding us, referring to the questions on the designated sections of the flyer. Looking at the Sex Talk flyer, the questions were encouraging.
The first thing we were asked to discuss was the question, "does gender exist?" Daniel and I talked about the existence of gender with the people around us, and it was interesting to hear their opinions. There were some disagreements and mixed thoughts, a thought that came up a few times was something like: "if you just don't learn about the harm surrounding gender identities and the possibilities of gender queerness e.t.c, then is it really a problem?" I expressed that I felt the opposite to the idea, meaning that if I personally had had the opportunity to get to know myself better while growing up, and learned that gender and sexuality are not the same thing and can be lots of different types e.t.c, I would not have been so lost, or sad and confused about everything. I would have had the chance to feel less alienated and felt more comfortable with myself, trying less to fit in to what i was told was the right and only way to be, feeling less like i had to conform to the 'correct role' to play.
Having a safe space to discuss and learn about these things from a young age is so important, and I am so happy that LGBT+ spaces are existing more in schools. It is more harmful to show one specific way that life 'has' to be, to all young people.
A peice of text by anonymous was read out loud. The text was extremely thought provoking and made me mad with whatever douchelord of a person made the person who wrote it feel this way. Sad thing is, the voice in the text didn't sound so unfamiliar, as I don't think those thoughts are uncommon.
Why are boys allowed to squirt?
What is pleasure and how does it manifest?
Who sets these parameters?
And is it different depending on gender?
What/who tells us when we are good or bad at sex?
These questions got us talking about loads of stuff, including the way different people view sex, depending on different sexualities, porn and other things. It was cool to hear everyone's thoughts. We discussed the parameters around sexual situations and how consent is the most important thing. I think everyone agreed that being comfortable and communicating with whoever you're with is just always a good idea when being intimate.
Wondering around the Tate Britain after the Bedfellows stuff, Daniel and his friend Monika showed me around which was really cool. I saw Tracey Emin’s bed and as I leaned in to take a couple of photos, an alarm went off. I didn’t realise there was an alarmed square area around it. The security guard found it funny though, I appologised for not knowing about the lazer beams, ha, they then told me that earlier in the evening Travis Alabanza had ran and gotten onto the bed and that was funny.
I love anything that is made from old televisions, or screens and old technology and wires and stuff! Sadly I can't seem to find the artist name for this one, I will add credit when I find it. It was so nice to look around the Tate Britain. Gutted I did not get to check out the gift shop cause the it was closing at 10:00pm, a member of staff politely asked us to leave when we were wondering around. Here are some photos of some artworks I liked.
Paula Rego. Nanna, Small Bears and Bogeyman. 1982. Acrylic on Paper.
Rose Wylie. Pin Up and Porn Queen Jigsaw. 2005.
Antony Gormley. Bed. 1980-1.
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