Row erupts over Tracey Emin's 'offensive' selections for Royal Academy exhibition

Artist Tracey Emin is embroiled in a row with several Royal Academy governors after selecting a number of controversial works for the institution's Summer Exhibition.

The 44-year-old has promised visitors to 'expect outrage' at the 240th annual event - much to the ire of some Royal Academicians (RAs) who govern the gallery.

Among Ms Emin's selections are close-up photographs of a woman's genitalia during menstruation, a video of a woman dancing in a hula-hoop of barbed wire that cuts her body, and an automaton depicting a zebra having sex with a woman, by her former boyfriend Mat Collishaw.

Traditionally, the show has been seen as the home of tasteful nudes and decorative watercolours, but this year will have a gallery curated by newly-elected RA Emin containing 'some material of a strong nature'.

'I won't disappoint anyone who expects outrage,' said Emin in advance of today's unveiling of the first show she has curated.

However, the artist took a more measured stance yesterday when she told The Times there is nothing controversial about the exhibition.

Derriere by pop artist Allen Jones: One of the exhibition's less controversial works

She said, 'The majority of people will be titillated and enjoy what they've seen. It's not shocking in a provocative way.'

But one RA, sculptor Ivor Abrahams, said: 'It's a disgrace. They are using the RA to shock us with pretentious rubbish. This isn't truly representative of the RA. It's provocative and offensive. It's like the old pier entertainment. You put your penny in and look at 'what the butler saw'."

However, fellow RA Humphrey Ocean, who has also curated a gallery of paintings for the exhibition, said Emin had risen to the challenge of curating.

'She has taken it very, very seriously,' he said. 'She has been fantastic in being there and contributing and offering criticism and help. She has to be a bit controversial otherwise you're not getting your Tracey's worth, but she has done it in a very intelligent way.

'I would be comfortable going in there with a child or my granny. If art isn't thought-provoking, what is it?'

The show also includes a stainless steel table-tennis table by designer Ron Arad, works by pop artist Allen Jones and Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, and a gallery dedicated to R B Kitaj, who died last year.

Art professor David Mach's Visitor (top) and The Hells Of Bells by R B Kitaj (bottom) are also on display at the exhibition