nathaniel mellors at venice art biennale 2011

‘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’.

image © designboom

samples of the dialogue

rear view image © designboom

left head detail image © designboom

right head detail image © designboom

image © designboom

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