IMMERSIVE SOUNDSCAPES AND PATTI SMITH

At its core, the project transforms field recordings collected by Soundwalk Collective’s founder, Stephan Crasneanscki, from some of the world’s most remote and resonant landscapes into immersive soundscapes. These compositions evoke a "sonic memory" of place, embodying traces of revolutionaries, artists, and the ongoing impact of climate change. Through an intimate dialogue with these recordings, Patti Smith channels her poetic voice to create pieces that reflect on the intersections of nature, human history, and artistic creation.

Each work challenges the traditional relationship between sound and image, allowing the sonic landscapes to dictate their visual counterparts. At kurimanzutto New York, Soundwalk Collective and Patti Smith will present an experimental, site-specic video installation featuring all eight CORRESPONDENCES films from their collaborative body of work: Pasolini, Medea, Children of Chernobyl, The Acolyte, the Artist and Nature, Cry of the Lost, Prince of Anarchy, Mass Extinction 1946-2024, and Burning 1946-2024. This collection, totaling 111 minutes of film, moves from the resilience of nature in Chernobyl’s aftermath, to wildres worldwide since Patti’s year of birth, the story of Piotr Kropotkin, and wild animals, to Pasolini’s final night in the Roman wastelands.

For this gallery presentation in Chelsea, the video installation will immerse the entire space with a multi-channel projection, while the soundtracks – composed by Soundwalk Collective and featuring lyrics written and recited by Patti Smith– fill the room. The artists have used archival materials, handwritten texts, drawings, visual studies, and scientific data to create works on paper that offer audiences a deeper view into the profound exchange between Soundwalk Collective and Patti Smith, exploring sound, poetry, and the fragile connections between humanity and the environment.

Over the years, the collaboration between Soundwalk Collective and Patti Smith has manifested in international live performances, institutional exhibitions, lm screenings (including at the Venice Biennale), poetry readings, and workshops.

Soundwalk Collective & Patti Smith: CORRESPONDENCES is open until February 22, 2025, at Kurimanzutto located at 516 w 20th street, New York City (United States).