Before reading on, watch this video.
If you’re like me, you probably are thinking that these strange beings are kind of cool, pretty mysterious, and really really weird. They're called Soundsuits and were conceptualized in 1992 by artist and fashion designer Nick Cave. Cave was born in central Missouri as the youngest of 7 children and to modest means. He used ordinary and random objects found around his hometown to jumpstart his interest in art and eventually attended the Kansas City Art Institute to receive formal training in his craft. He originally made the suits as an artistic reaction to the Rodney King beatings that occurred in 1991. Cave, himself a black man, wanted to create metaphorical suits of armor that hide a person while simultaneously screaming out in resistance. He uses bright colors and eye-catching materials to draw attention to the issues and “lash out” in anger at the injustices. At the same time though, the suits are specifically made to mask the gender, race, and class of the wearer. “We tend to want to categorize everything... You must be one on one with something that is so unfamiliar” explains Cave of his intent. This blend of intense emotions and anonymity allow the suits to grab the attention of and inspire reflection in viewers, making them that much more impactful.
So far, i’ve explained the suits are sculptural art, which they are definitely are. They have been displayed all around the world in countless galleries, with permanent collections in the MOMA, the Birmingham Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian, among others. In my opinion though, they truly make their highest emotional impact when they are worn and moved in during performances. Many of the suits are made from recycled or odd materials like furniture, stuffed animals, or human hair. These things are layered and designed to rattle and resonate with the movement of the wearer. This translation from sculpture into fashion creates a new emotional dynamic, making it harder to ignore the ideas they stand for as they literally make noise and draw attention through movement. Cave himself is a trained dancer and regularly performs in the suits.With so much emotional background, the dances are intense and allow the artist to create a new way to convey emotions using sound and visuals.“If fashion is an evolution, presentation is an evolution too.”, he says, showing his intent to move performance to a new realm of emotional release within the industry. Cave combines the childishness of abstract creation with the intense and mature message against police brutality. Similarly, he combines the joy of performance with the anger of the message. These complex combinations remind me of Csikszentmihalyi’s list of paradoxically creative traits and reinforce the claim that Cave is a true eminent creative.
Today, Cave has created over 500 different suits and is a professor of graduate studies in fashion design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Through this position, Cave has become not only a art that creates a product, but also a member of the field that shapes new designers as they emerge and create their artistic visions and perspectives. I sincerely hope I get the chance to see these suits in person, both as sculptures and in action. The pictures and videos are amazing but I know seeing them in person would bring a whole new layer of depth and emotion.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention”
I love Nick Cave's work! There was an exhibit at my local art museum back at home with a bunch of his work and it is so visually pleasing and fun to look at. However, I was unaware that the Sound Suits were a reaction to police brutality, which makes his work all the more interesting.
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