Nick Cave: Until

Nick Cave: Until Takes Over the Momentary

Unarmed (detail), 2016

The largest and most ambitious project yet from the renowned, Chicago-based artist, Nick Cave: Until took over all 24,000 square feet of the Momentary’s gallery space in fall 2020. Beneath the colorful wind spinners, enormous tapestries of pony beads, and an immaculate cloudscape made of thousands of crystals and a garden of found objects, the artist posed a larger question: Is there racism in heaven?

Beaded Cliff Wall (detail), 2016

Crystal Cloudscape (detail), 2016

Local / Regional Artists Respond to Until

Artist Nick Cave also viewed his monumental exhibition as a community forum, a place where viewers and artists could respond to the work and discuss larger societal issues. As a result, the Galleries are also serving as a studio and stage for 11 local and regional artists to create their own responses to the questions asked by Cave in the exhibition, now through the beginning of January. Working across multiple forms of expression including dance, theater, writing, and fashion, the 11 artists are: Adrienne Callander, Blake Worthey, Big Sister, Bruce Davis, Prison Story Project, Jlin, LatinX Theater Project, Austin Dean Ashford, DJ Girlfriend, Brody Parrish Craig, and Lynette Thrower. Learn more about these artists and their responses to Until at theMomentary.org.

Installing Until at the Momentary

The Prep team at the Momentary is responsible for packing, unpacking, and installing all the visual art found in the space. For Until, Lead Installation Manager Kevin Haynie explained that it took 9-12 preparators 7.5 weeks to unpack and install the entire exhibition in the Momentary’s galleries.

“Crystal Cloudscape (2016) was by far the heaviest component to handle,” said Haynie. “It is comprised of 16 pieces of varying sizes and weights that get assembled to become the single object you see today. Along with those pieces are the many chandeliers, some of which were several hundred pounds each, and other various components that are placed throughout the work bringing the total weight to around three tons.”

While this massive work of mixed media was the heaviest object, it did not take the most time to put together. “Kinetic Spinner Forest (2016) was something that we worked on throughout the entire install timeline,” said Haynie. “It involved erecting a wire cable infrastructure from which the spinner motors would hang from that would allow us to create the spacing and sequencing that is required of that work.”

Beaded Cliff Wall (2016) showcased how visual art exhibitions can look different in each space they inhabit. “One of the many great things about the beaded curtains is how their display can be so varied and unique to whatever space they are in,” said Haynie. “In our case, we applied them in two main ways: to the walls and to the ceiling. Each curtain weighs anywhere from 400-600 lbs. and when combined could be up to 1500 lbs. per tower object.”

In total, Crystal Cloudscape (2016) weighs about 3 tons.

Special thanks to the exhibition’s sponsors: Cox Communications, Goldman Sachs, Airways Freight Corp., Greenwood Gearhart, J&D Pallets, Atreides Management, LP, Caryl Stern and Donald LaRosa, Demara Titzer, Tony Waller, and Sue and Charles Redfield. Nick Cave: Until was curated by Denise Markonish, MASS MoCA, and organized for the Momentary by Lauren Haynes. The exhibition was organized by MASS MoCA and co-produced with Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Principal exhibition support was provided by an anonymous gift. Major exhibition support was provided by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Barr Foundation, the Mass Cultural Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, Jack Shainman Gallery, Marilyn and Larry Fields, BeadKraft, and the Robert Lehman Foundation.

Kinetic Spinner Forest (detail), 2016

Each of the beaded curtains weigh between 400-600 pounds.

It took 7.5 weeks to install Until at the Momentary.