Nick Cave: sound suits
meet me at the center of the earth
In 2011 the Seattle Art Museum displayed a collection of American artist Nick Cave's outrageous fashion/sculpture pieces--dubbed Sound Suits" by their creator--in an exhibition titled Meet Me at the Center of the Earth. I saw the exhibit and was fascinated by Cave's ingenious, uncanny, and fantastic work. His Sound Suits have such personality and vitality. Displayed on mannequins, they appeared poised to break into an ecstatic carnivalesque dance. I was intrigued by Cave's use of everyday materials, and the ways in which he amalgamated the commonplace to create figures of startling majesty, beauty, and an unknowable ritual mystery. Researching Egungun masquerades this fall, my mind often went back to Cage's Sound Suits. In purely visual terms both artworks --Egungun costume and Cave's Sound Suits--seem linked in some way. I looked into Cave's work but could not find detailed information about the possible origin of his inspiration and visual aesthetic.
Much like Egungun costumes, Cave's suits are meant to be worn by dancers. They are meant to be activated by the human body in performance. As their name suggests, the Sound Suits in action provide their own accompaniment. Both Cave's suits and the Egungun costume are rich assemblages of materials meant to completely obscure the human form. Cave writes that his goal was to "embellish the body while protecting the wearer from outside culture" (www.sam.org). In this way, his creations are emblems through which dancers and their audiences can explore identity, ritual, performance, and concepts of shelter. Cave's Sound Suits are sites of artistic and social discourse in much the same way as Egungun costumes are sites of social connection and religious ritual.
Perhaps this is where the connection ends. Perhaps the connections are merely visual. Nevertheless, Cage's work seems to bring something mysterious and otherworldly into our midst. There is a sense with these soundsuits that the unseen is being unveiled through the masking of the human body. In that respect, his work is very much in line with the spirit of Egungun masked performance.
Below is Pam McCulsky's introduction to SAM's Educator Resource Guide for Meet Me at the Center of the Earth:
Much like Egungun costumes, Cave's suits are meant to be worn by dancers. They are meant to be activated by the human body in performance. As their name suggests, the Sound Suits in action provide their own accompaniment. Both Cave's suits and the Egungun costume are rich assemblages of materials meant to completely obscure the human form. Cave writes that his goal was to "embellish the body while protecting the wearer from outside culture" (www.sam.org). In this way, his creations are emblems through which dancers and their audiences can explore identity, ritual, performance, and concepts of shelter. Cave's Sound Suits are sites of artistic and social discourse in much the same way as Egungun costumes are sites of social connection and religious ritual.
Perhaps this is where the connection ends. Perhaps the connections are merely visual. Nevertheless, Cage's work seems to bring something mysterious and otherworldly into our midst. There is a sense with these soundsuits that the unseen is being unveiled through the masking of the human body. In that respect, his work is very much in line with the spirit of Egungun masked performance.
Below is Pam McCulsky's introduction to SAM's Educator Resource Guide for Meet Me at the Center of the Earth:
Source: http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/Learn/schoolteacher/pdf/NickCaveResourceGuide.pdf
PICTURE SOURCES
Header image: http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/features_fashion/2010/10/nick-cave-fashion-sculptures-make-rare-stop-at-norton-museum.html
Figure 1: http://www.curatedobject.us/the_curated_object_/exhibitions_charlotte/
Figure 2: http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/nick-cave-ucla-fowler-museum/2116
Figure 3: http://angelinazhou.com/2011/10/09/whirlwind-nyc/
Figure 4: http://laurenfenton.com/?p=1647
Figure 5: http://ashvisualdeeree.blogspot.com/2010/06/nick-cave-performance-artist-sound.html
Figure 1: http://www.curatedobject.us/the_curated_object_/exhibitions_charlotte/
Figure 2: http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/nick-cave-ucla-fowler-museum/2116
Figure 3: http://angelinazhou.com/2011/10/09/whirlwind-nyc/
Figure 4: http://laurenfenton.com/?p=1647
Figure 5: http://ashvisualdeeree.blogspot.com/2010/06/nick-cave-performance-artist-sound.html