OLIVER BEER
8-screen immersive video opera and sound installation
November 6th 2026 - March 28, 2027 | Kiasma - Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
Filmed in one of the best-preserved prehistoric caves in southwestern France — home to some of the world’s earliest known artworks — The Cave brings together eight singers from across the globe, each invited by Oliver Beer to perform fragments of a song connected to their earliest musical memory. Reflecting a wide range of cultural and geographic origins, the work features American-Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, French artist Woodkid, Canadian-Haitian musician Mélissa Laveaux, alongside singers from Japan, Denmark, Lebanon and Australia.
Granted rare access to this archaeologically significant site, Beer discovered that the cave’s ancient paintings had been placed in areas of heightened acoustic resonance. Each singer performs in tune with the cave’s natural harmonics, their voices naturally amplified by the cave and weaving together in the gallery space into a haunting polyphony — meticulously recomposed by Beer into a resonant tapestry of lullabies, folk songs, and ancestral melodies.
The exhibition is curated by Anna Mustonen and Patrik Nyberg from Kiasma.
Melissa Laveaux © Oliver Beer. Courtesy of the Artist, Almine Rech and Thaddaeus Ropac gallery. Image: Oliver Beer.