Image: Nathaniel Mellors, The Sophisticated Neanderthal Interview 2013/2014, 23 min., 35mm film trans. to HD video (still). Image courtesy the artist and Matt’s Gallery, London; Monitor, Rome and Stigter van Doesburg, Amsterdam.

MUMA, in association with Monash Art Design and Architecture [MADA], present a keynote lecture by LA-based, British artist Nathaniel Mellors.

The lecture will be introduced by Associate Professor Kit Wise, Associate Dean (Education), MADA, Monash University and followed by a discussion with the artist convened by Simon Maidment, Curator, Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Victoria.

Nathaniel Mellors makes irreverent, humourous and absurd filmic works, sculptures, performances and critical writings that challenge our notions of taste, morality, and intelligence. His seminal series Ourhouse (2010- ongoing) is a six part film project (written and directed by Mellors) following the structure of a standard television drama and loosely based on Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema (1968). Ourhouse features a cast of misfit characters enacting the decline of an eccentric British family as they are confronted by ‘The Object’ - an unexpected manifestation who invades their country manor. Drawing inspiration from popular icons of cinema and theatre, Ourhouse hybridises aspects of British sitcoms, absurdist theatre and science fiction, while making pointed observations about language, cultural appropriation and power structures.

For this lecture Mellors will introduce his multidisciplinary and collaborative practice and discuss recurrent themes in his work including the manipulative qualities of language and the relation between words and reality.

Date: Thursday 23 October 2014, 6.00-7.30PM
Venue: The Wheeler Centre, State Library of Victoria, 176 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

FREE event, however bookings essential muma.rsvp@monash.edu or ph. 03 9905 4217

For further information about this event and Nathaniel Mellors, please visit the MUMA website here.