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Tracey Emin’s Therapy Art

The founder of Art in Odd Places talks about the co-opting of social practice art. Plus, Tracey Emin’s cult of the self, Frank O’Hara’s international world, and more.

Hyperallergic

March 26, 2026 — 4 min read

Can’t dismantle the master’s house with the master’s tools, to paraphrase Audre Lorde. For much of his career, Ed Woodham, founder of Art in Odd Places, has worked in performance art, public art, installation, and social practice — those forms created to engage communities outside the white cube. But what do we do when the systems socially engaged art set out to challenge co-opt its forms? Meet Social Malpractice — a workshop, “warning system,” “speculative think tank,” and more. Read Woodham’s opinion piece to learn more about his inspiring work.

Also in this issue, Olivia McEwan takes on Tracey Emin’s cult of personality in a review of her retrospective at Tate Modern, Nathan Gelgud inks an absolutely lovely comic about Frank O’Hara’s lesser-known curatorial work, John Yau studies Anki King’s portraits of isolation, and much more.

—Lisa Yin Zhang, associate editor

Ed Woodham, The Keepers - Penn Station (2024) (photo Paul Takeuchi)

What happens when the language of social practice becomes a tool of the very systems it once hoped to challenge? | Ed Woodham

Take Your Practice Further in a Visual Arts Residency at Banff Centre

Engage with leading contemporary faculty, access exceptional studios, and develop your practice in Banff’s inspiring mountain setting.

Learn more

News

Artist Ali Sbeity has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in the southern town of Kafra in Southern Lebanon, according to local media reports and Artists at Risk Connection.
Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama has threatened to sue his government after members of its police force allegedly assaulted him.

In Memoriam

Writer Calvin Tomkins attends the 2011 Whitney Museum of American Art Gala at Hudson River Park’s Pier 57 on October 5, 2011 in New York City (photo Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)

Remembering Calvin Tomkins, Rhoda Roberts, and Agosto Machado

This week, we honor a celebrated art writer, a champion of First Nations culture, a downtown NYC performance artist and activist, and others. | Lisa Yin Zhang

Meet the First Cohort of Haystack’s Artist Grant Initiative

Eight artists pushing boundaries in design and materials find support through mentorship and an unrestricted grant award.

Learn more

From Our Critics

Tracey Emin’s “My Bed” (1998) in *A Second Life* at Tate Modern (photo Olivia McEwan/*Hyperallergic*)

Tracey Emin’s Cult of the Self

The YBA artist spearheaded contemporary art’s trend of coupling extreme self-introspection with relentless self-promotion. | Olivia McEwan

Anki King’s Nordic Noir

A pervasive sense of self-containment, isolation, and miscommunication flows through the Norwegian artist’s work. | John Yau

Comics

Frank O’Hara’s Curatorial Eye

Though best remembered for his poetry, O’Hara championed artists like Helen Frankenthaler and organized several shows at the Museum of Modern Art during the Cold War. | Nathan Gelgud

Member Comment

Houry Geudelekian on “What Do We Really Think of the New New Museum?”:

This was so much fun to read, thank you. I’ve always wanted to be in the room for Hyperallergic’s critics’ discussions. What kept coming up for me is that the New Museum is trying to be the little sister of MoMA, and that is the last thing it should aspire to. I agree with the comments about past wars and the lack of focus on where we are now [...] We know from this publication alone that there is so much new art emerging from both tragedies and new technologies that I would like to see and learn from. That is what a “New Museum” should be all about.