The Tate Modern is celebrating it's 10th birthday. On show, as part of it's permanent celebration is Louise Bourgeois' spider sculpture Maman. Bourgeois, who is 99 years old, no longer gives interviews. But for the Tate's birthday, she came out of retirement to talk about her commission in the Turbine Hall. The Spider gave the Tate Modern an instant identifable signature and made the artist a household name. Did this sudden fame surprise her: 'No,' she says modestly. 'The space is so beautiful – anything placed inside it would cause a strong reaction.'
As an artist, Bourgeois focuses on remembered interiors of her childhood. Maman turned the surrealist obsession with men upside down, creating a haunting image of motherhood insted - of a spider carrying her eggs.
Before this, Bourgeois says, 'I made a series of small sculptures with mirrors and chairs. They were about looking and being looked at. To continue these concepts on a large scale was an opportunity I could not pass up." What mattered to her most about this installation was the audience's engagement with it. Her towers were designed to be ascended, paving the way for subsequent participatory installations. "The towers were meant to be an experience. If you did not experience all three towers in sequence, then you did not get the piece.'
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