"[2] The artwork generated considerable media furore,[3] particularly over the fact that the bedsheets were stained with bodily secretions and the floor had items from the artist's room, such as condoms, underwear with menstrual blood stains, other detritus, and functional, everyday objects, including a pair of slippers.

The bed was presented in the state that Emin claimed it had been after languishing in it for several days; at the time she was suffering suicidal depression brought on by relationship difficulties.

Two performance artists, Yuan Cai and Jian Jun Xi, jumped on the bed with bare torsos to improve the work, which they thought had not gone far enough.

The men also had a pillow fight[1] on the bed for around fifteen minutes, to applause from the crowd, before being removed by security guards.

[3] When it was announced, in May 2014, that the work was to be auctioned, David Maupin, Emin's dealer in New York, described the £800,000 – £1.2 million estimate as too low.