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Visitor stumbles into Tracey Emin sculpture and smashes it
Benedict Moore-Bridger, Evening Standard29.07.08
Tracey Emin's first exhibition as a curator began disastrously when one of the show's most important pieces was smashed by a clumsy visitor.
The nine-foot tall ceramic totem, described as the star of the show, broke into hundreds of pieces when the visitor tripped and crashed into it.
The sculpture was one of five pieces by Costa Rican artist Tatiana Echeverri Fernandez collectively titled Frauleins Christina, Panthea, Zenobia, Semiramis and Guinevere.
It was on display at the Royal Academy as part of its 240th Summer Exhibition curated by the British artist.
In January 2006 a similar accident occurred at the Fitzwilliam museum in Cambridge. On that occasion, a man fell over as he tied his shoelaces and toppled into a 45kg Qing dynasty vase.
The 113 pieces were put back together but the value of the artwork was significantly diminished.
A witness to the Royal Academy accident on Saturday said the totem was destroyed.
Claire San Martin said: "It was an enormous crash, like pottery smashing. Everyone was just standing around not knowing what to do at all, and one woman in a white top, who I assume had knocked it over, was standing with her hand on her head. After a while a person who was in charge of the room ran off to get help and someone came in with a dustpan and brush to clean it up.
"Before that people were still coming into the room and thought it was part of the exhibition. They were taking pictures. I think they thought it was meant to be like that. It was quite funny.
"Two guards came in to keep people away from it and an official came to talk to the woman who knocked it over. It was completely smashed. There were pieces everywhere."
A spokesman for the Royal Academy said conservators were assessing the damage so that they could inform their insurers. A spokesman for Fernandez said the artist did not want to comment.
The exhibition curated by Emin has caused a stir. It features explicit works of art including a sculpture by Tim Noble and Sue Webster of hands and penises, a triangle of human hair entitled Hair From The First Girl I Ever Slept With by Michael Fullerton, and a video by Israeli artist Sigalit Landau showing a naked woman hula-hooping with barbed wire.
Emin, 44, elected a Royal Academician last year, said: "I wanted it to be provocative. I wanted to give the Royal Academy what is expected of me."
The Frauleins was one of six works shortlisted for the £25,000 Royal Academy of Arts Charles Wollaston Award, but missed out to Jeff Koon's Cracked Egg (Blue).
