Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance over the opening weekend of ‘Sugar Spin: you, me, art and everything’ to celebrate the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) turning 10. HEARD consists of 30 ‘soundsuits’, made to be worn or displayed as sculpture.

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Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA / View full image

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA / View full image

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA / View full image

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: C Callistemon © QAGOMA / View full image

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: N Harth © QAGOMA

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: N Harth © QAGOMA / View full image

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: N Harth © QAGOMA

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: N Harth © QAGOMA / View full image

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: N Harth © QAGOMA

Rehearsals for Nick Cave’s HEARD•BNE 2016 performance to mark the tenth anniversary of the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) December 2016 – January 2017 / Photograph: N Harth © QAGOMA / View full image

HEARD comes alive as a large-scale community performance, each horse is brought to life by two dancers who develop its behavior and character and involves a group of individuals working together to become something larger – firstly as a pair, and then as the ‘herd’. The performance relies on the strengths of the individual and the massed group. Similarly, the choreography shifts from free-form improvisation to a trained body of dancers moving in unison; open-ended creativity and coordinated structure are of equally critical value, as they are within our society as a whole.

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