Soundsuit

Nick Cave is a sculptor, dancer, and performance artist. Best known for his Soundsuits—sculptural, wearable garments that exist both as static sculptures and as vessels for performance—Cave explores the body, rhythm, and notions of beauty as well as deeply human questions of identity and empowerment. With a particular interest in an object’s potential, he uses traditional craft techniques to transform mundane materials—found fabric, hot pads, human hair, doilies, buttons, or twigs as in this work—and gives them new life and form. Cave is also interested in the Soundsuit’s potential to effect change and has been facilitating Performance Labs to work with schools and communities around the country.

When worn, the sculptures eradicate identity and offer a new way of being in the world, one without judgment based on appearance. About his own experience he has said, “When I was inside a suit, you couldn’t tell if I was a woman or man; if I was black, red, green, or orange; from Haiti or South America. I was no longer Nick. I was a shaman of sorts.”