Join us for the fourth annual Winter/Miller Lecture on Thursday, March 11, at 7:00 PM, featuring acclaimed artist Nick Cave.

Cave’s appearance at the Tang Teaching Museum is by invitation from Nathan Bloom ’21, an anthropology major. He holds the prestigious 2020-21 Eleanor Linder Winter ’43 Internship, a one-year pre-professional program in museum work for Skidmore students. In this role, Bloom is charged with the research, planning, and coordination of the annual Winter/Miller Lecture.

The Winter/Miller Lecture is made possible through a generous gift by the family of Eleanor Linder Winter ’43. The inaugural Winter/Miller lecture was delivered in 2018 by artist Nicole Eisenman. Chris Ware delivered the second annual lecture in 2019. Wangechi Mutu gave the third annual lecture in 2020.

This online event is free and open to the public. Register via Zoom.

About Nick Cave

Nick Cave (b. 1959, Fulton, MO; lives and works in Chicago, IL) is an artist, educator and foremost a messenger, working between the visual and performing arts through a wide range of mediums including sculpture, installation, video, sound and performance. Cave is well known for his Soundsuits, sculptural forms based on the scale of his body, initially created in direct response to the police beating of Rodney King in 1991. Soundsuits camouflage the body, masking and creating a second skin that conceals race, gender and class, forcing the viewer to look without judgment. They serve as a visual embodiment of social justice that represent both brutality and empowerment.

Throughout his practice, Cave has created spaces of memorial through combining found historical objects with contemporary dialogues on gun violence and death, underscoring the anxiety of severe trauma brought on by catastrophic loss. The figure remains central as Cave casts his own body in bronze, an extension of the performative work so critical to his oeuvre. Cave reminds us, however, that while there may be despair, there remains space for hope and renewal. From dismembered body parts stem delicate metal flowers, affirming the potential of new growth. Cave encourages a profound and compassionate analysis of violence and its effects as the path towards an ultimate metamorphosis. While Cave’s works are rooted in our current societal moment, when progress on issues of global warming, racism and gun violence (both at the hands of citizens and law enforcement) seem maddeningly stalled, he asks how we may reposition ourselves to recognize the issues, come together on a global scale, instigate change, and ultimately, heal.