POTOMAC, MD.- Glenstone Museum announced a new installation by Nick Cave (b. 1959). Opening Saturday, September 19, in Room 1 of the Pavilions building, the exhibition will be on view through spring 2028.
Commissioned by Glenstone, Louder Still (2025) is the artist’s largest multi-figure Soundsuit to-date, gathering eleven discrete forms joined by a monolithic textile adorned with hand-sewn buttons made from iridescent mother of pearl shells. The oversized headpieces of each figure resemble gramophones or tuba horns, implying music and the sounds of protest, which Cave sees as integral to this body of work.
The artist conceived the installation to be site-specific for Room 1. Installed directly on the building's terrazzo floor, the artwork will invite visitors to experience the sculpture in 360 degrees.
"Louder Still contains a magnitude of labor, emotion, and ideology in its design and construction," said Emily Wei Rales, director and co-founder of Glenstone. "We look forward to being in dialogue with our visitors as they experience this extraordinarily complex and densely layered artwork. The work rewards sustained looking, revealing new meanings and perspectives with each encounter."
Cave’s Soundsuits are life-size sculptures that are sometimes designed to be worn, concealing the identity of the person inside. Producing sound through movement, they blend performance, protest, fashion, and visual art. Cave crafted his first Soundsuit from gathered twigs as a statement of resilience and protest in response to racialized violence in the 1990s. As the series developed over time, the forms and their adornments became increasingly elaborate, colorful, incorporating beads, sequins, toys, synthetic hair, and textiles that lend an exuberant and even festive air. At the core of Cave’s work is rumination and reflection on the lived experience of being Black in America, with particular focus on the nature of protection, concealment, and joy.
Growing up in Missouri exposed Cave to racial injustice at an early age, and he has described his work as an attempt to transform experiences of grief and violence into hope. His work draws inspiration from the formative environment of his youth as well as a wide range of artistic traditions. Music—specifically funk, jazz, gospel, and club culture—is a driving force. The world of fashion and costuming, west African ceremonial regalia, New Orleans funeral processions, the work of painter Barkley Hendricks, and the choreography of Alvin Ailey are a few of the notable inspirations the artist pulls from.
"Few artists have merged fashion, craft, sculpture, and performance as seamlessly as Nick Cave," said Nora Severson Cafritz, Senior Director of Collections at Glenstone. "Over the last three decades, he has redefined contemporary artistic practice, challenging hierarchies while demonstrating the power of beauty as a vehicle for social commentary. His impact lies in transforming found materials into extraordinary acts of imagination and resilience, creating a body of work that resonates deeply while remaining critically influential."
Glenstone's collection includes additional works by the Chicago-based artist including: Soundsuit (2005), Penny Catcher (2009), and Wall Relief (2013).
