Nick Cave: Forothermore
May 14, 2022 - Oct 02, 2022
About the Exhibition
The MCA presents the first career-spanning retrospective of the internationally renowned Chicagoan Nick Cave (b. 1959, Fulton, MO; lives in Chicago, IL), an artist celebrated for projects that blend community building with vibrant works of art across disciplines, including immersive installations, textural sculptures, impeccably crafted fashion, and dynamic videos and performances. Highlights of the exhibition include never-before-seen works, including a continuation of the artist’s popular Soundsuits series with the premiere of Soundsuits 9:29 and a mesmerizing, site-specific installation, Spinner Forest, comprised of thousands of kinetic spinners hanging in the museum’s two-story atrium and fourth-floor lobby.
Cave came to prominence as a visual artist almost 20 years ago with his dazzling, sculptural Soundsuits, and works in Chicago as an activist, educator, designer, and performer. Nick Cave: Forothermore gathers all of these aspects of Cave’s work into the artist’s largest museum survey to date. This immersive journey through Cave’s distinct bodies of work is accompanied by an exhibition catalogue designed with Cave’s partner, Bob Faust.
Nick Cave: Forothermore is an ode to those who, whether due to racism, homophobia, or other forms of bigotry, live their lives as the “other”—and a celebration of the way art, music, fashion, and performance can help us envision a more just future.
The exhibition is curated by Naomi Beckwith, former Manilow Senior Curator, with Jack Schneider, Curatorial Assistant. It is presented in the Griffin Galleries of Contemporary Art on the museum’s fourth floor.
Installation Views
Related Content
Learn more about Nick Cave and his artistic process in this video created for the exhibition Nick Cave: Forothermore.
In an interview given in his studio, Cave discusses his upbringing, artistic practice, and how he manages to balance joy and despair not only in his artwork, but in his outlook on the world.
Produced by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 2022. Post-production by Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli / Solid Pink Productions.
Related Events
July 19, 2022
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Taking Shape: A 3-Day Sculpture Workshop for Teens
August 27, 2022
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Power of the Party: Chicago House and Nick Cave
October 1, 2022
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Talk | The Color Is: A Behind-the-Scenes Conversation
September 27, 2022
1:00 pm
Screening | Nick Cave and Jack Cave’s 376 Days
October 2, 2022
11:00 am
Screening | Nick Cave and Jack Cave’s 376 Days
September 20, 2022
6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Talk | Nick Cave and Naomi Beckwith
May 21, 2022
6:00 pm
ArtEdge | Nick Cave and Jack Cave, The Color Is
May 22, 2022 - May 23, 2022
Nick Cave and Jack Cave, The Color Is
May 13, 2022
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Members’ Preview | Nick Cave: Forothermore
May 22, 2022
12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Music Talk | Nona Hendryx and Jamila Woods with Ayana Contreras
September 24, 2022
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Workshop | Ekphrastic Poetry with Raych Jackson
July 13, 2022
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Creative Reuse | Sculpture-Making at Seneca Park
August 3, 2022
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Workshop | Family Sculpture-Making at Seneca Park
July 27, 2022
11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Workshop | Movement and Dance at Seneca Park
Funding
Lead individual sponsorship is generously contributed by Kenneth C. Griffin.
Lead support is provided by the Harris Family Foundation in memory of Bette and Neison Harris, Zell Family Foundation, Cari and Michael Sacks, Nancy and Steven Crown, Joyce Yaung and Matt Bayer, Julie and Larry Bernstein, Marilyn and Larry Fields, Agnes Gund, Jack Shainman Gallery, and Karyn and Bill Silverstein.
Major support is provided by Murat Ahmed and Katherine Mackenzie; the Bluhm Family; Robert J. Buford; Conagra Brands Foundation; Ellen-Blair Chube; Lois and Steve Eisen and the Eisen Family Foundation; Denise and Gary Gardner; Jack and Sandra Guthman; The Joyce Foundation; Anne L. Kaplan; Susie L. Karkomi and Marvin Leavitt; Kovler Family Foundation; Liz and Eric Lefkofsky; Jennifer and Alec Litowitz; Gael Neeson, Edlis Neeson Foundation; Conor O’Neil/McCormick Family Foundation; Ashley Hemphill Netzky and Pamela Netzky; Carol Prins and John Hart/The Jessica Fund; and Rebekah and Ilan Shalit.
Generous support is contributed by Heiji and Brian Black, Dr. Anita Blanchard and Martin H. Nesbitt, Conduit Studio, Tonya and Matt Geesman, Helyn Goldenberg and Michael Alper, Nickol and Darrel Hackett, Jana and Bernardo Hees, Katie and Billy Hutchens, Brenda and Steffan Jacobsen, Linda Johnson Rice, Diane Kahan, Laura and Craig Martin, Cheryl and Eric McKissack, Marisa Murillo, D. Elizabeth Price, Nathaniel Robinson, Catherine Ross and Chris Liguori, Douglas and Yumi Ross, and Terra Foundation for American Art.
This project was partially funded by a grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism.
This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
