Chicago artist Nick Cave, creator of multi-sensory "sound suits," will headline the Minneapolis Institute of Arts' 2013- 14 lecture series. Known as a "poet of sight, sound, motion and emotion," Cave is a dancer and urban wizard of cast off materials that he assembles into wearable body-suits made from fake fur or based on colorful old-fashioned crocheted doilies. He turns crazy textiles into vibrant fantasies garnished with rattles, tambourines, toys, drums and trinkets that jitter and clatter during his lively dance performances.

Other topics in the monthly lecture series range from an in depth discussion of African art to 18th century table decoration at the court of French king Louis XV and his official mistress Madame de Pompadour. The African art talk, which focuses on Yoruba culture, coincides with a dramatic reinstallation and reconfiguration of the museum's African collection.

All talks are free and start at 11 a.m. in the museum's Pillsbury Auditorium. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 3rd Av. S. 612-870-3000 or www.artsmia.org

Schedule:

September 12, 2013: Nick Cave, "Body of Work."

October 10, 2013: Henry John Drewal, "Making Sense of African Art: Yoruba Arts and Culture."

November 14, 2013: David Lowe, "The Artists of Montmarte."

December 12, 2013: Alain Gruber, "The Splendour of Table Decoration in the Period of Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour."

January 9, 2014: Eric Kandel, M.D., "The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain from Vienna 1900 to Present."

February 13, 2014: Deborah Pierce, "Art Theft and the FBI."

March 13, 2014: Emily Allchurch, "Tokyo Story: Journey in the Footsteps of a Master."

April 10, 2014: Elyse Karlin, "Jewelry of the First Ladies."

May 8, 2014: Kathleen Weil-Garris Brandt, "Michelangelo's Genius: Nature vs Nuture."