Soundwalk Collective & Patti Smith: Correspondences

Correspondences is an ongoing collaboration between Soundwalk Collective and Patti Smith, spanning over a decade and traversing diverse geographies, histories, and natural environments.

The presentation at kurimanzutto marks the first time this body of work is shown in New York and in a gallery setting. 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—sites of poetic inspiration, historical significance, and environmental urgency—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 the gallery Soundwalk Collective and Patti Smith present an experimental, site-specific video installation featuring all eight 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 wildfires worldwide since Patti’s year of birth, the story of Piotr Kropotkin, and wild animals, to Pasolini’s final night in the Roman wastelands. These are just a few of the layers that make up the intricate creations born from this collaboration, which continue to evolve and shift each time they are presented. For this gallery presentation the video installation 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.

At the center of the exhibition are two sculptural, backlit cabinets: Pasolini / Medea (2024) and Cry of the Lost / Prince of Anarchy (2024). These pieces illuminate the various layers of inspiration and the process behind Correspondences. In addition, 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, film screenings (including at the Venice Biennale), poetry readings, and workshops.