‘hippy dialectics (ourhouse)’ by nathaniel mellors in ‘illuminations’ at the venice art biennale 2011 image © designboom

british-born, amsterdam-based artist nathaniel mellors displays ‘hippy dialectics (ourhouse)’ in ‘illuminations,’ the international exhibition curated by bice curiger at the venice art biennale 2011. a double-headed animatronic sculpture, the work delivers a short schizophrenic dialogue which is both humorous and disturbing.

the parenthetical ‘ourhouse’ in the title refers to a video work by mellors, a surrealist sitcom about an eccentric family featuring two central figures, ‘daddy’ and ‘the object.’ ‘hippy dialectics’ features two versions of the ‘daddy’ character – one blue, one yellow – connected by a ribbon of hair. cast from the face of the actor in the film, the latex heads are brought to life by means of electronics and software. they deliver a looped kind of pep talk, including a range of compliments (‘god, you’re looking buff. no seriously, you look great!’ and ‘cool, you are cool!’) before reaching an absurdist conclusion of rebutting ‘yes’ with ‘no’.

nathaniel mellors at venice art biennale 2011 - 2 image © designboom

samples of the dialogue

nathaniel mellors at venice art biennale 2011 - 3 rear view image © designboom

nathaniel mellors at venice art biennale 2011 - 4 left head detail image © designboom

nathaniel mellors at venice art biennale 2011 - 5 right head detail image © designboom

nathaniel mellors at venice art biennale 2011 - 6 image © designboom

the 54th international art exhibition in venice, italy, runs until november 27, 2011.