A virtual version of Nick Cave‘s ‘Stranger Than Kindness’ exhibition has launched online. Find all the details below.
The critically acclaimed ‘Stranger Than Kindness: The Nick Cave Exhibition’ first opened at Copenhagen’s The Black Diamond in 2020, presented by the Royal Danish Library. Two years later, the collection received its North American debut in Montreal, Canada.
It offered fans “an unprecedented look into the creative world” of the soloist, Bad Seeds member, storyteller and cultural icon.
“Featuring full-colour reproductions of original artwork, handwritten lyrics, photographs and collected personal artefacts, it presents Cave’s life, work and inspiration and explores his many real and imagined universes,” a listing reads
From today (Wednesday November 19), fans worldwide can delve into the musician’s work digitally via ‘Stranger Than Kindness: The Virtual Nick Cave Exhibition’. The new site is described as “a dynamic, interactive online experience”.
It boasts an exclusive new audio guide recorded by Cave, accompanying more than 300 objects collected or created by the artist through six decades of his creative and private life.
‘The Virtual Nick Cave Exhibition’ allows users to access the unique experience via an ultra-high-resolution 3D version of its physical counterpart. This gives fans “a deeper engagement with the original content, which includes extensive archive and newly created material including photographs, letters, artworks, objects, installations, audio and video”.
Cave’s new audio guide was recorded this year as a conversation between the songwriter and co-curator Christina Back. Audiences can navigate the exhibition freely, accompanied by Cave’s own reflections on the exhibition and its contents.
Visitors can also experience the original soundscapes composed for the spaces by Cave and his longtime collaborator and Bad Seeds bandmate, Warren Ellis.
You can access ‘Stranger Than Kindness: The Virtual Nick Cave Exhibition’ for free now here. Check out the preview video in the post above.
Cave served as a co-curator and co-designer of the physical exhibition, which was named as one of the world’s must-see cultural events by Time Out in 2020.
“Behind each work is an equally fascinating artistic process not originally intended for public view; the exhibition opens up the innermost parts of Cave’s creative universe and offers a story of its own,” a previous description read.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are set to release their new concert album, ‘Live God’, on December 5. The record captures the band’s acclaimed tour in support of their 2024 LP ‘Wild God’.
Speaking to NME about the forthcoming project recently, drummer Jim Sclavunos explained: “Transcendental’ is too pretentious a word, but it’s something like that.
“There was a really buoyant, joyous spirit to the whole thing. We’ve trodden down the path of being doom and gloom for a long time – surly men in black and all that jazz – but we’ve obviously moved on some time ago.”
Sclavunos kept tight-lipped about the progress on any new Bad Seeds material. However, he said he “absolutely” hoped and believed that the positive and larger-than-life energy of ‘Wild God’ and the tour would bleed into it.
“I’m not going to impart any top secret information, even if it doesn’t exist,” he laughed. “I hate to be coy. When there’s something to talk about, you can be sure we’ll talk about it.”
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have confirmed a UK and European headline tour for next year, including a huge homecoming gig at Brighton’s Preston Park. They’ve announced appearances at various festivals too, such as Mad Cool, NOS Alive, Open’er and Øya.
In other news, the official trailer for the TV adaptation of Cave’s 2009 novel The Death Of Bunny Munro arrived earlier this month.
