Nick Cave’s colossal crystal cloudscape at Carriageworks imparts a vital message
Dwarfed under a five-tonne crystalline cloud dripping with glowing chandeliers and cascading beads, a sense of magical awe suspends your imagination. Twelve metres long and six metres wide, it forms the centrepiece of American artist Nick Cave’s Until, a monumental, multifaceted installation occupying just over 1,700 sq m of Sydney art space Carriageworks. His fantastical landscapes require journeying up steps to menagerie wonderlands, weaving through forests of twirling wind chimes, channeling through a tunnel of kaleidoscopic curtains intricately woven with plastic beads and immersion within kinetic Rorschach patterns.
Yet, upon closer inspection, the rainbow connection is deeply awry. ‘The challenge was creating work that is accessible while also amplifying a political overtone. It’s ultimately about crime,’ states Cave in relation to the work’s exploration of entrenched racism, gender politics, gun violence, and the issue of gun control in America. Three and a half years in the making, it was co-produced by MASS MoCA (where it was exhibited in its first incarnation last year), Carriageworks and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (where it will be exhibited in 2020).
Since Cave conceived his colourful Soundsuits over 20 years ago, his agenda has intensified, manifesting itself through sheer scale. He describes the experience of navigating his most ambitious project to date as being inside the belly of one of his Soundsuits, wearable sculptures that were initially created as peaceful and protective armour in protest to police brutality against African-Americans. His intention now is to illicit discomfort and ultimately action. The very term ‘until’ indicates continuance of an action or condition to a specified time and incites the notion of change coming.
Sinister tones taint components of the exhibition. Stark outlines of revolvers, bullets and teardrops mingle with some 16,000 abstract metallic mobiles twinkling under skylights surrounding the cloud, rupturing the experience of child-like enchantment. ‘Their reflections on the cement floor dart about like searchlights,’ observes Cave. In an adjoining space, the immersive 14-channel video Hye-Dyve snaps viewers into an agitated state fuelled by preying notions of surveillance and racial profiling against a backdrop of jarring sounds. The site-specific projected floor component of thrashing waves filmed along Sydney’s coast amplifies this nauseous momentum of entrapment.
Four ladders grant access to the garden landscape above the celestial Crystal Cloudscape where a bricolage of salvaged Americana including glass fruits, metal flowers and ceramic animals adorn swathes of crocheted and beaded blankets. Blemishing this cornucopia are black-faced ‘ornamental’ lawn jockeys with golliwog-like forced grins. With the addition of Cave’s beaded dream catches in their hands, they grasp for a better life.
‘There is an optimism in the work,’ insists Cave. Entering another warehouse chamber, a giant rustling waterwall comprising strips of blue Mylar spelling ‘FLOW’ acts like a purification agent to cleanse people’s actions. Beaded nets woven from plastic hair pony beads on shoelaces suspended from the double-height walls spill onto the floor like camouflage nets in war zones. Originally displayed in clusters of undulating outcrops, here they hang flush, allowing visitors to walk between the web-like curtains. Their abstract patterns recall urban graffiti, whilst one wall spells out ‘POWER,’ inciting activism to change.
‘I view this work as a theatre set, or an elaborate community forum, as much as a work of sculpture,’ says Cave regarding its rich civic context. Ten local artists and collectives including Romance Was Born fashion designers Luke Sales and Anna Plunkett, singer/songwriter Ngaiire and visual artist Bhenji Ra will create responses to the work over the exhibition period in the form of performances and musical events in addition to panel discussions and community forums within the space. Cave hopes some innovations will take on their own life after the exhibition.
‘I’m a messenger first, artist second,’ insists Cave, who incorporated a window frame with broken glass from MASS MoCA in the exhibition. The impression was caused by a red-tailed hawk (believed by some as an agent of the divine) smashing through it during the installation period and occupying the space for several days. ‘Most would assume it’s a large bullet hole, but I see it as a hopeful, prophetic sign,’ adds Cave.
INFORMATION
‘Nick Cave: Until’ is on view until 3 March 2019. For more information, visit the Carriageworks website
ADDRESS
Carriageworks
245 Wilson Street
Eveleigh NSW 2015
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Find yourself at Six Senses Kyoto, the brand's breathtaking Japan debut
Six Senses Kyoto opens its doors boasting tranquil, luxurious interiors by Blink Design Group
By Danielle Demetriou Published
-
Shigeru Ban’s mini Paper Log House welcomed at The Glass House
'Shigeru Ban: The Paper Log House' is shown at The Glass House in New Canaan, USA as the house museum of American architect Philip Johnson plays host to the Japanese architect’s model temporary home concept
By Adrian Madlener Published
-
Artist Mickalene Thomas wrestles with notions of Black beauty, female empowerment and love
'Mickalene Thomas: All About Love’, a touring exhibition, considers Black female representation
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Australia’s first Art Grand Tour unites three biennials in a city-hopping trail
Australia’s Art Grand Tour showcases more than 400 artists, across Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide in a build-your-own art adventure
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Peter Blake’s sculptures spark joy at Waddington Custot in London
‘Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters’, at London's Waddington Custot, spans six decades of the artist's career
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Oozing, squidgy, erupting forms come alive at Hayward Gallery
‘When Forms Come Alive: Sixty Years of Restless Sculpture’ at Hayward Gallery, London, is a group show full of twists and turns
By Hannah Silver Published
-
At Melbourne’s NGV Triennial 2023, artists consider magic, matter and memory
Melbourne’s NGV has opened its third triennial, uniting art, design and architecture from around the world
By Elias Redstone Published
-
Photo 2024: what to expect as Australia’s largest photography festival returns
Photo 2024 International Festival of Photography will take place 1-24 March 2024 across Melbourne and Victoria
By Hannah Silver Published
-
New glass sculpture creates a verdant wonderland at Apple’s Cupertino HQ
‘Mirage’ at Apple Park is the work of Zeller & Moye and artist Katie Paterson, a shimmering array of glass columns that snakes through the grounds of the company’s monumental HQ
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Man Ray’s sculptures go on show in New York
‘Man Ray: Other Objects’ opens at Luxembourg + Co, New York, revealing their author’s ‘artistic revolution’
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Edinburgh Art Festival 2023: from bog dancing to binge drinking
What to see at Edinburgh Art Festival 2023, championing women and queer artists, whether exploring Scottish bogland on film or casting hedonism in ceramic
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published