Nick Cave: Mammoth 

Production | Exhibition Grant

Nick Cave’s new project invites visitors to walk among the fantastical remains of ancient mammoths. Part exhibition and part large-scale performance, Mammoth will transform the spaces of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, envisioning a world animated by the power of the past and the transformative possibilities of the imagination. With this new body of work, Cave explores his family’s history in rural Missouri, his relationship with the landscape there, and the nature of his own creativity. In doing so, he invites us to consider our connections with the natural world and the everyday objects that surround us. In the commissioned, site-specific performance in October 2026, the creatures will come alive in the museum.