Nick Cave Exhibition @ Tony Gould Gallery, QPAC Brisbane : 24 March – 9 May 2009

New QPAC exhibition showcases Aussie cult musician

Iconic Australian musician, songwriter and author Nick Cave is now the subject of his own exhibition at QPAC starting this month.

Delving behind the music and into Cave’s imagination and the sources of his unique vision through original lyrics, notebooks, artwork, photography and books; as well as objects from the musician’s own library and office, Nick Cave – the exhibition is on at the Tony Gould Gallery at QPAC Museum, from 24 March to 9 May 2009.

Curated and toured by the Arts Centre, Melbourne, the exhibition is drawn from over 800 items generously donated by Nick Cave to the Performing Arts Collection. The Exhibition features lyrics personally selected by Cave, one of Australia’s best known international music icons.

Visitors to the QPAC Museum will be taken on a surprisingly insightful and playful journey through the performer’s connection with Melbourne, London, Berlin, Sao Paulo and Brighton, England. The free exhibition, adapted for its Brisbane season by QPAC’s Performing Arts Museum, will also explore the many phases of Cave’s career working with The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party, the Bad Seeds and Grinderman.

Mick Harvey, Nick Cave’s long-time collaborator, has helped provide rare and previously unavailable video and documentary material especially for the exhibition.

Exhibition curator from Melbourne, Janine Barrand said: “It has been great that Nick has been so involved and interested in the exhibition, personally selecting the lyrics that will be featured.

“This exhibition is a great opportunity for QPAC to connect to a new audience, through one of Australia’s best known performers and songwriters. I believe this exhibition will show a side of Nick that is rarely seen,” said Ms Barrand.

Speaking about the exhibition Nick Cave said, “This has been a revealing and rewarding experience. Much of this stuff has sat around in boxes for years and the process of “excavating” it has been many things – moving, disturbing, inspiring and downright terrifying. The curator has done an excellent job of researching and collating this material.”

Some highlights of the exhibition include:
• lyrics chosen exclusively by Nick Cave to feature in the exhibition
• notebooks and diaries of Nick Cave
• original manuscript of Nick Cave’s book, And The Ass Saw The Angel
• a selection of photographs by Polly Borland, Bleddyn Butcher, Peter Milne Anton Corbijn and others
• a unique compilation of moving image selected by Mick Harvey, Bad Seeds member and long time collaborator of Nick Cave
• artwork by Tony Clark featured on the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds albums: The Best of the Bad Seeds, 1998 and No More Shall We Part, 2001
• books from Nick Cave’s personal library
• designs and artwork by Nick Cave
• revised manuscript of the script for the film, The Proposition, written by Nick Cave, directed by John Hillcoat
• a selection of flyers, fanzines and posters dating from the late 1970s and The Boys Next Door days to the present

Nick Cave Merchandise is also available from the Tony Gould Gallery, including Nick Cave Stories featuring original illustrations by artist Tony Clark, with each chapter providing an insight into lesser-known aspects of Nick Cave’s creative life and times.

This exhibition is supported by Visions of Australia, an Australian Government program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of Australian cultural material across Australia.

A joint collaboration between QPAC and the Arts Centre Melbourne, Nick Cave –the exhibition follows the successful Australian premiere, of Bobby Dazzler! an exhibition to mark the centenary of the birth of theatrical legend Sir Robert Helpmann and celebrate his remarkable career.

Featured at the QPAC Museum from 21 October to 8 March, Bobby Dazzler! leaves QPAC to tour nationwide also funded by Visions of Australia.

For more information:
Visit www.qpac.com.au for more information about the Nick Cave exhibition.
Visit www.theartscentre.net.au/discover for more information about the Collections at the Arts Centre Melbourne.

QPAC presents
Nick Cave – the exhibition
24 March – 9 May 2009
Tony Gould Gallery, QPAC, South Bank
Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm

Entry Free

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