Nick Cave reveals his creative process with Montreal’s Stranger than Kindness exhibition

Following a pair of performances at Place des Arts with Warren Ellis on April 2-3, Nick Cave stuck around in town just long enough to preside over the opening of a new exhibit about his life and creativity. Stranger Than Kindness: The Nick Cave Exhibition is a collection of over 300 items Nick Cave has created or collected over the past six decades of his life that shed a light on his interests and writing process. The exhibit runs from April 8 – August 7 at Galerie de la Maison du Festival in Montreal (305 Saint-Catherine St W).

Created with Nick Cave’s collaboration, the exhibit takes visitors through Cave’s life and career, offering insight into his creative process in a unique and enveloping way. The exhibit features original drafts of lyrics, original artwork, diaries, photographs, videos, found objects and more, all offering insight into Cave’s inspirations and how those are worked into his music (the exhibit even includes Cave’s very own library).

Initially created for The Black Diamond of The Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen, the exhibit is described as an “unorthodox fusion of biography, autobiography and fiction.”

“When the Royal Danish Library contacted me with the idea of a “Nick Cave Exhibition” I was reluctant to get involved,” says Cave. “I am not nostalgic by nature and I had no time for a trip down Memory Lane. But the team at the library were clearly serious people with a wonderful infectious energy and they drew me in! We created an exhibition that feels unprecedented in its audacious reach, its feet rooted in the past while extending into the uncertain future. In the end we were able to put together an exhibition of extraordinary detail that commented on the fragile and vulnerable nature of identity. I am so proud to be a part of this unique and unorthodox exhibition— a shattered history we called Stranger Than Kindness.” 

Scroll below to check out images from the exhibit and the opening press conference with Nick Cave courtesy of Bad Feeling Magazine photographer Eva Blue. Tickets for Stranger Than Kindness: The Nick Cave Exhibition are available now.