Oliver Beer’s ‘The Cave’ Premieres at Lyon Biennial, Featuring Paleolithic Cave Resonance and Musical Collaborations
The Facts
Oliver Beer presents his latest installation 'The Cave' at the Lyon Biennial, a multi-screen video and sound work that uses acoustic resonance from the Paleolithic Grotte de Font-de-Gaume in southwest France. The work features performances by Rufus Wainwright, Woodkid, and Mélissa Laveaux, who sang their earliest musical memories and interacted with the cave's resonant frequencies. Beer was granted access to the cave in 2021 and filmed over three years. The installation uses eight synchronized cinema screens and 16 speakers to recreate the experience. Alongside, Beer debuts a new series of Resonance Paintings made using sound waves to move pigments, incorporating the same black and ochre pigments found in the cave.
The Signal
The project extends Beer's decade-long practice of mapping the resonant frequencies of architectural spaces—from the sewers of Brighton to the Centre Pompidou—into prehistoric art, linking sound and ancient visual culture. By enlisting major musicians and building an immersive installation for a biennial context, Beer foregrounds an interdisciplinary approach that resonates with contemporary interest in expanded sensory experiences. The resulting work offers a rare encounter with the acoustic properties of a protected cave, while the Resonance Paintings materialize sound in a form that bridges abstraction and archaeological pigment.
- Artists: Oliver Beer
- People: Rufus Wainwright, Woodkid, Mélissa Laveaux, Coline Milliard
- Galleries: Thaddaeus Ropac
- Locations: Lyon, Dordogne
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