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Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

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Andrea Fraser

Little Frank and His Carp

2001

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Shot with hidden cameras, this six-minute video by contemporary artist Andrea Fraser documents an unauthorized intervention in the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. During the course of her “visit,” Fraser listens raptly to the words on the audio guide and experiences what can be described euphemistically as an intense identification with the museum building, designed by the architect Frank Gehry, the “Little Frank” of the video’s title. As the recording expounds on the glories of its revolutionary architecture (not mentioning the art it contains), Fraser’s face expresses a range of emotional states in an exaggerated response to the tour’s narrative. Little Frank and His Carp is a send-up of contemporary museological seduction, amplifying and sensualizing the relationship between art and its audiences. The video highlights two of Fraser’s most identifiable artistic strategies: provocative performance that focuses on the body of the artist, and incisive institutional critique. [Permanent collection label, 2015]

  • Artist Andrea Fraser (American, b. 1965)
  • Title Little Frank and His Carp
  • Date 2001
  • Medium Video on DVD
  • Edition description ed. 12/25
  • Dimensions duration | 6min
  • Credit line University purchase, Parsons Fund, 2006
  • Object number WU 2006.0008

Andrea Fraser
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 08/21/2021 - 11/28/2021 Video Gallery

Performance and Performativity in Contemporary Art
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/09/2011 - 01/09/2012

Humor, Irony, and Satire: Strategies of Critique in Modern Art and Culture
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/21/2010 - 07/18/2010

Andrea Fraser, "What do I, as an artist, provide?"
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/11/2007 - 07/16/2007

Andrea Fraser, "What do I, as an artist, provide?" 2007

10/11/2006
Friedrich Petzel Gallery, New York

Inscription [On white DVD in black] [top:] Andrea Fraser / [italicized] LITTLE FRANK AND HIS CARP / 6 minutes [bottom:] COPYRIGHT 2001 ANDREA FRASER [running vertical on left side:] [signed in black:] Andrea Fraser [running vertical on right side in black script:] 12/25

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.

Related Content

go to Andrea Fraser, Little Frank and His Carp, 2001 page
2006_0008.jpg
Essays

Andrea Fraser, Little Frank and His Carp, 2001

Grade: High, University
go to Andrea Fraser, "What do I, as an artist, provide?" page
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Exhibitions

Andrea Fraser, "What do I, as an artist, provide?"

May 11, 2007–July 16, 2007
go to Humor, Irony, and Satire: Strategies of Critique in Modern Art and Culture page
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Exhibitions

Humor, Irony, and Satire: Strategies of Critique in Modern Art and Culture

May 21, 2010–July 18, 2010
go to Performance and Performativity in Contemporary Art page
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Exhibitions

Performance and Performativity in Contemporary Art

September 09, 2011–January 09, 2012
go to Andrea Fraser page
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Exhibitions

Andrea Fraser

August 21, 2021–November 28, 2021

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