Mammoth

Nick Cave shines at the SAAM

Installation photography of Nick Cave: Mammoth, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2026, [photo by author]

WASHINGTON, DC — April 11, 2026 — It is a sad day when our nation’s capital is in a disheveled state of disarray. The East Wing of the White House has been demolished, construction cranes tower over the rubble, and the outer grounds are torn up for “construction” — or perhaps deconstruction, with our nation’s 250th birthday approaching. The reflecting pool on the National Mall is empty, and the Korean War Veterans Memorial is blocked off with plywood. In response to, or perhaps because of this, the leader of the free world has decamped to Miami Beach for a UFC cage match. We had seen and heard Marine One take several passes over the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial that same day.

Although it is severely disheartening, this is where art comes in — more specifically, Mammoth by Nick Cave, on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) at Eighth and G Streets NW, Washington, DC. Amid the disorder outside, it is refreshing to witness an orderly arrangement of everyday goods used to create, literally, another world. The exhibit includes an entire gallery wall festooned with beads and a massive light table encircled by used canes. One also cannot forget the sturdy lifeguard towers sporting mammoth tusks, as if to poke fun at our existence and soon-to-be extinction. A video wall shows mammoths come to life, carried by a team on a beach. Let’s take a deeper look inside.

Beads, multitudinous beads the sum of all past Mardi Gras

After walking past portraits of former presidents and contemporary artworks, a display further down the hall catches your attention.

Upon entering the room, you see a wall to the left covered entirely in multicolored beads. This massive, floor-to-ceiling installation spans the width of the gallery wall and spills out onto the floor, representing the sheer excess of past Mardi Gras celebrations and the literal oceans of liquor that fueled them.

The beads are layered so deeply that it feels as though you could walk into them, be consumed by their vast scale, and disappear into another world. To ground you before your imagination pulls you too far into that sea of party beads and phantom drinks, a physical anchor stands nearby: a lifeguard tower equipped with mammoth tusks and Victrola-style speakers, acting as a welcome safety net for your wandering mind.

Lifeguard Tower #2 stands at the head of a massive light table, surrounded by everyday goods, sequined pantsuits, and matching shoes. The display seems to say, “Welcome to the imagination of the artist’s hopes, dreams, and overarching vision.” We are simultaneously invited and disinvited — signaling a line that shall not be crossed — by a circle of well-used canes. These canes lie perpendicular and interlocked, forming a sacred boundary. Upon it, an array of fishing poles, kites, coasters, shoes, sequins, toys, robots, balls of string, glassware, baubles, and marbles are perfectly arranged. They reflect the light and come to “still life” before our eyes.

It is getting late and red-shirted hockey fans swarm onto G Street right outside. The gallery closes soon, and we must take another pass of the light table video screen and perhaps disappear indefinitely into the sea of beads and cries of past Mardi Gras.

Oh look, there is a child’s desk covered in gold links and another installation: two black figures melting onto the floor with a garden of metal flowers sprouting between them, which speaks to rebirth. If only we had more time! This installation is truly mammoth.

Nick Cave: Mammoth is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Eighth and G Streets NW, Washington, DC

February 13, 2026 — January 3, 2027

Open Daily, 11:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m

Free Admission

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