Official Welcome

Commissioned by the MICA Foundation, Official Welcome was first performed in November 2001 for guests at the private residence of Barbara and Howard Morse, prominent collectors and founding members of the Foundation. The MICA programme includes the commissioning of a large annual project, which is presented at the Morse residence with an official reception. The performance begins with the artist, in an elegant black dress, voicing her gratitude, and thanking the hosts and the Foundation for their work. Appropriating the ritual of official ceremonies, she cites politely the names of her assistants and the staff of the museum that has hosted her. Following which, she changes her position, voice and attitude, and begins to speak aggressively about herself in the third person.

Fraser interprets a rapid succession of attitudes and characters, adopting a lyrical and urgent tone as if she were a political artist, followed by the sombre tone of someone who has doubts, then that of a rebel creator who insults the audience, and so on until she stops and, without warning, exits the stage. The effectiveness of this performance is based on the artist’s masterful interpretation, ranging from impeccable imitation to excess, as well as her discourse that was meticulously composed of fragments taken from collected essays on art, official texts written by museum directors and artists’ statements. After New York, Fraser replicated the performance in 2003 at the Kunstverein, Hamburg, and at the Pompidou Centre, Paris, in 2009.