Nick Cave: Mammoth

Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, DC
February 13, 2026–January 3, 2027

In this deeply personal exhibition, Cave transforms the gallery space into a paleontological museum, linking everyday experience with the natural world and deep time. A video projection brings the long-extinct mammoth to life, and handcrafted mammoth “bones” and “hides” share space with a giant light table displaying hundreds of transformed found objects, including old tools and Cave’s grandmother’s thimble collection.