Nick Cave’s Soundsuits and working across media
Does the artist make sculptures, music, or performance art pieces? Yes. He works across media seamlessly and elegantly. One of my favorite things about Nick Cave’s work is how appropriately he names his pieces: Soundsuits.
They work on many levels. Most people first experience them as static sculptures, on display in the modern art section.The suits make noise as they move, accompanied by music. So are they musical instruments? Is the artwork primarily a piece of music? And the dancing event with these suits is always designed for a specific location. So are they performance art?
At a closer look, you can’t help but notice the details. Soundsuits are made primarily of found objects, not traditional costuming materials. The first Soundsuit was made of twigs collected underfoot, and embodied the idea of the artist feeling discarded and ignored by society as a person of color.
In a PBS interview, Nick Cave explains–
“Here, my work does not fit into any of these particular categories - so you’re forced to ask yourself, what is it?”
Both the choice of materials - often discarded or vintage - and the choice to move between specific art genres are deliberate. These choices make the social message impossible to ignore.
Soundsuits camouflage the body, masking and creating a second skin that conceals race, gender, and class, forcing the viewer to look without judgment or preconception.
Source
Translate ideas and adapt materials
Using unconventional materials and moving across genres are both strategies we can adapt in design work. An album’s cover design is an independent work. But together with the music piece, they make one whole - more rich and meaningful than each one by itself.
Multi-dimensional work that goes across mediums can also be accessible and discoverable by wider audiences. Unconventional materials, especially things with a history of specific use, add layers of meaning.
Nick Cave’s soundsuits work on many levels, and across disciplines. Here are the design work strategies that seemed to me complementary to his way of working.
Make a whole product from complementary pieces
One way to take advantage of moving between media is to make companion pieces for the work you’ve done already. When we approach a problem from different angles, in different media, we can create a better solution.
This approach is not always realistic. Additional pieces may not be in the budget or in scope. At least, try to leave room for a bit of play. Making even a basic “album cover” for an otherwise non-visual design solution can open up previously undiscovered value. A companion piece that lies outside of the medium where you’ve done the bulk of your work can also promote a better understanding of the solution by the client, the public, and even by you.
Translate solutions from one medium to another
As we saw with Matisse’s patterns, translating a decorative arts piece into painting creates a new work. “Stealing” ideas across media is an effective way of working, and will give fresh results as long as the process is strong. Translating ideas from seemingly unrelated disciplines can help solve design problems in new ways.
Adapting unconventional materials can do the same thing. By reusing an existing thing in a new way, we multiply its history by the added meaning we’re assigning to the piece. Here are two other examples I enjoy:
This chair designed by Droog is made of recycled layers of clothing. The owner can adapt the chair to their own home by adding more layers of clothing, and preserve some personal history in the process. Whatever the added things mean to their owner becomes adsorbed into the piece.
The Oil and Water Do Not Mix poster is screen printed using the oil from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster. The oil is transformed here from a harmful to a useful substance, eventually helping aid the cleanup efforts from the poster sales.
UX / UI
As a UX designer, I am not screenprinting posters every day. But understanding the importance and the history within materials allows me to create interfaces and frameworks more intentionally. Just thinking through an alternative solution, in a different medium, helps me find clarity. It can sometimes reveal blind spots. And, yes, thinking of a practical problem in terms of Beatles album covers can be fun.