Tracey\'s Star

2007 will be Tracey Emin's year. She will represent Britain at the Venice Biennale in June, competing with other nations for the Golden Lion trophy (sounds made for Tracey) and making the most of the Palladian British Pavilion, up whose steps all must climb, cap in hand. It is a far cry from her two famous works about her Essex beach house, closed to the unmade bed in hedonistic delights. If, as Emin offers, pathos is a vital ingredient in all art (as Richard Demarco rightly asserts), then Venice is a city of pathos for all senses, all our seasons. Nor is Tracey averse to the odd party (in addition to the British consulate bash). There are all kinds of delights for the art lover. The British council have made a brilliant choice.