What do you picture when you think of the origination of rhythm…of sound: a bass guitar, a drummer banging away, an iPod pumping out the latest hits? Very rarely do we envision twigs, dyed human hair, dryer lint or socks as music, as sound…as art.
Yet, Nick Cave, a brilliant artist and the director of the graduate fashion program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has found a way to take the most mundane and commonplace items and turn them into moving artwork comprised of four media: visual, textile, audible and mobile.
His Soundsuits – also referred to as art in motion – are inspiring, palpitating, wearable sculptures that have captured the hearts of all that view them.
Cave was born in Missouri in 1959. He was raised by his mother in a modest home with many siblings and often contributes his affinity for found things to his meager childhood. Cave went on to study at the Kansas City Art Institute and graduated in 1982. It was also during this time that Cave began to study dance through the Alvin Ailey program.
“Dance is for everybody. I believe that the dance came from the people and that it should always be delivered back to the people,” Ailey once said. Ailey was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and is often credited with popularizing modern dance and especially revolutionizing African-American participation in 20th-century concert dance. Ailey’s choreographic masterpiece Revelations is one of the best-known and most often performed modern dances.
“African ceremonial costumes and masks are obvious points of reference. Many of my Soundsuits and accessories recall the African positing of spiritual power in objects,” Cave said.
“My ability to make to make objects come alive is also a testament to my ability to have things resonate with their past history and usages alongside my personal – though usually opaque – meanings,” he continued. “I want my work to open up vistas to many cultures (including our own), explore a wide range of materials and formal approaches, and look inwardly as it examines personal and cultural identity in relation to the world.”
Cave’s Soundsuits are stunning even when simply standing on display. However, the suits come alive in performance. One Soundsuit, which features a headdress of metal playthings, begs for any movement simply to create its jangling sound; a Soundsuit composed of brightly colored human hair emits a soft whisper. Each suit produces a unique sound through percussive and almost tribal-looking choreography.
