"Official Welcome" presents a selection of acquisitions of the Stiftung des Vereins der Freunde der Nationalgalerie für zeitgenössische Kunst. Established in 2005, the foundation is dedicated to acquiring relevant positions in contemporary art. Due to the remarkable efforts of the organization, more than 70 works by some 50 artists have been added to the Nationalgalerie Collection in recent years.

The works selected for this presentation all share a strong emphasis on the critical engagement with a specific media and demonstrate a high degree of conceptual and theoretical stringency. However, in contrast to the dematerialized idea-based art of the 1960s and 1970s, theses seven artists are concerned with the exploration of specific genres, like painting, photography, installation, performance, and assemblage.

The artist collective Bernadette Corporation interweaves the worlds of fashion, novels, films, and conceptual art. Cosima von Bonin has a similarly interdisciplinary approach; in her installations she uses a range of different quotes, which can stem from artist and musician friends or the consumer industry. Jutta Koether and Michael Krebber interrogate the medium of painting in their respective works, to which they add elements from other art forms. Christopher Williams does not consider himself a photographer but a director, he commissions advertisement photographers to create high-gloss images and thereby explores photographic techniques and realities. Heimo Zobernig analyzes in his works the mechanisms of the context system art, and Andrea Fraser's performance "Official Welcome"(2001/2003), from which the title of this presentation is borrowed, reflects on and parodies the behavior patterns and rituals of the art world.

Curator: Lisa Marei Schmidt