Artists Nathaniel Mellors and Erkka Nissinen will collaborate on a new video sculpture and installation to be exhibited at the New Museum in spring 2018 as part of Mellors’ solo exhibition Progressive Rocks. This project is a continuation of their collaborative work The Aalto Natives, originally conceived for the Finnish Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale.
Conflating ideas and tropes from archaeology, anthropology and science fiction, The Aalto Natives re-imagines Finnish society through the eyes of two messianic outsider figures, Geb and Atum, who are represented by talking animatronic puppets. For the exhibition at the New Museum, Mellors and Nissinen will create a new piece centered around these characters, which includes video projection and animatronic sculpture.
“We are very proud to see Nathaniel Mellors’ and Erkka Nissinen’s collaboration continue at the brilliant New Museum. The Aalto Natives was a hit both among critics and audiences at the Venice Biennale this year and it is fantastic that Mellors’ and Nissinen’s work will find new audiences and friends in New York”, says Raija Koli, commissioner of the Finnish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and Director of Frame Contemporary Art Finland.
The exhibition Nathaniel Mellors: Progressive Rocks is curated by Curator Margot Norton and will be on view from 6 February 2018 in the New Museum’s recently inaugurated South Galleries, a space designated for premiering new productions at the Museum.
The 57th Venice Biennale is open through 26 November in Venice, Italy.
Nathaniel Mellors: Progressive Rocks 6 February – 15 April 2018 at the New Museum, New York City
Image: The Aalto Natives by Nathaniel Mellors and Erkka Nissinen. Photo: Ugo Carmeni / Frame Contemporary Art Finland.