NATHANIEL MELLORS
THE NEST
Cobra Museum
Sandbergplein 1 - Amsterdam
10/12/2011 - 4/3/2012
The Cobra Museum of Modern Art presents Nathaniel Mellors – The Nest, in which new work by Nathaniel Mellors is merged with works from the Cobra Museum collection in a unique installation. It is the fourth exhibition by a Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen winner and is accompanied by a limited edition artist's publication of the same title. Nathaniel Mellors has developed this multifaceted project in collaboration with artist Chris Bloor (b. 1962, works in Leeds, UK).
The exhibition will be opened on 10 December, 2011, by Pierre Audi, artistic director of the Nederlandse Opera and artistic director of the Holland Festival. The Cobra Art Prize and the accompanying statement by the jury will be presented to the artist at the opening event.
Nathaniel Mellors (b. Doncaster, UK, 1974; lives and works in Amsterdam) has rapidly gained an international reputation with idiosyncratic works in which the complex relationship between language and power is a recurrent theme. His diverse productions involve absurdist scripts, film, video, animatronic sculpture and reprography. Mellors is uniquely able to lead us into a world of artificial images that — sometimes unintentionally - express our darkest urges. He has recently developed several other projects in which works by other artists have also been included.
Nathaniel Mellors – The Nest is a mis-en-scène in which new video sequences, photograms, glowing sculptures and sculptures from the museum’s collection nest together within the exhibition space. The artist has conceived of this constellation of works as a single installation exploring the theme of objectification in different ways; in the Ourhouse series texts become sculptures and ideas become physical problems for the protagonists. Mellors has made a correspondent selection of Cobra works with a focus on the relationship between language and sculpture.
The installation ‘The Nest’ includes four specially edited film sequences from Mellors’ Ourhouse series (including the new, eponymously titled ‘Ourhouse - The Nest’) housed within newly constructed sculptures. In the Ourhouse film series we witness developments in the lives of the Maddox-Wilson family, whose home is occupied by a male figure known as ‘The Object’. The family cannot recognise ‘The Object’ as a human being; they struggle to speak in its presence. The Object hijacks language inside the house through a process of eating and regurgitating the family’s books. The texts it consumes influence the story.
Nathaniel Mellors – The Nest is accompanied by a limited edition artist's publication of the same title, which includes texts by Nathaniel Mellors, Dan Fox and Dominic van den Boogerd. The book was designed by Chris Bloor.
The Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen is awarded every two years to an artist living in the Netherlands who works innovatively and seeks experimentation. The prize includes a monetary award of €10,000 and an exhibition and accompanying publication at the Cobra Museum of Modern Art in Amstelveen. The prize is an initiative of the municipality of Amstelveen and the Cobra Museum of Modern Art. The Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen has previously been awarded to Joost Conijn (2005), Johannes Schwartz (2007) and Gijs Frieling (2009).
THE NEST
Cobra Museum
Sandbergplein 1 - Amsterdam
10/12/2011 - 4/3/2012
The Cobra Museum of Modern Art presents Nathaniel Mellors – The Nest, in which new work by Nathaniel Mellors is merged with works from the Cobra Museum collection in a unique installation. It is the fourth exhibition by a Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen winner and is accompanied by a limited edition artist's publication of the same title. Nathaniel Mellors has developed this multifaceted project in collaboration with artist Chris Bloor (b. 1962, works in Leeds, UK).
The exhibition will be opened on 10 December, 2011, by Pierre Audi, artistic director of the Nederlandse Opera and artistic director of the Holland Festival. The Cobra Art Prize and the accompanying statement by the jury will be presented to the artist at the opening event.
Nathaniel Mellors (b. Doncaster, UK, 1974; lives and works in Amsterdam) has rapidly gained an international reputation with idiosyncratic works in which the complex relationship between language and power is a recurrent theme. His diverse productions involve absurdist scripts, film, video, animatronic sculpture and reprography. Mellors is uniquely able to lead us into a world of artificial images that — sometimes unintentionally - express our darkest urges. He has recently developed several other projects in which works by other artists have also been included.
Nathaniel Mellors – The Nest is a mis-en-scène in which new video sequences, photograms, glowing sculptures and sculptures from the museum’s collection nest together within the exhibition space. The artist has conceived of this constellation of works as a single installation exploring the theme of objectification in different ways; in the Ourhouse series texts become sculptures and ideas become physical problems for the protagonists. Mellors has made a correspondent selection of Cobra works with a focus on the relationship between language and sculpture.
The installation ‘The Nest’ includes four specially edited film sequences from Mellors’ Ourhouse series (including the new, eponymously titled ‘Ourhouse - The Nest’) housed within newly constructed sculptures. In the Ourhouse film series we witness developments in the lives of the Maddox-Wilson family, whose home is occupied by a male figure known as ‘The Object’. The family cannot recognise ‘The Object’ as a human being; they struggle to speak in its presence. The Object hijacks language inside the house through a process of eating and regurgitating the family’s books. The texts it consumes influence the story.
Nathaniel Mellors – The Nest is accompanied by a limited edition artist's publication of the same title, which includes texts by Nathaniel Mellors, Dan Fox and Dominic van den Boogerd. The book was designed by Chris Bloor.
The Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen is awarded every two years to an artist living in the Netherlands who works innovatively and seeks experimentation. The prize includes a monetary award of €10,000 and an exhibition and accompanying publication at the Cobra Museum of Modern Art in Amstelveen. The prize is an initiative of the municipality of Amstelveen and the Cobra Museum of Modern Art. The Cobra Art Prize Amstelveen has previously been awarded to Joost Conijn (2005), Johannes Schwartz (2007) and Gijs Frieling (2009).
