The cavernous Chelsea outpost of Kurimanzutto was recently filled with the sounds of crickets in Ibiza, traditional Georgian music, and the Amazon River. Through eight two-channel films, mixed-media collages, drawings, and sculpture, Patti Smith and Soundwalk Collective explored the current environmental crisis with themes of demise, rebirth, and chance.
Founder Stephan Crasneanscki of Soundwalk Collective shared that his collaboration with Smith involves sourcing field recordings from locations with historical and emotional resonance. Smith then responds poetically to these recordings, with her spoken words typically being improvised. “I find it liberating to respond to pure sound and sonic frequencies,” Smith said of her process.
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Crasneanscki sees these sounds as a gateway to a contemplative space outlined by Smith’s poetry. The exhibition at Kurimanzutto, titled “Correspondences,” juxtaposed romantic references to 20th-century auteurs with footage of alarming realities like glacier melting, the Chernobyl explosion, and Amazon destruction.
Smith reflected on the invocation of the Greek sorceress Medea in their work, drawing insight and emotion from the voices and frequencies of Georgia, where Medea was from. The collaboration delves into the story of Medea, who murdered her children out of revenge for her husband’s infidelity.
Crasneanscki’s trips to the Amazon and Chernobyl provided footage for the exhibition, showcasing nature in rapid collapse and the lives of young squatters in the abandoned city of Pripyat. The collaboration aims to voice environmental collapse through improvisation and sonic exploration.
The partnership between Smith and Crasneanscki is likened to a journey of discovery, where new ideas are born through walks in various cities. Their collaboration explores themes of environmental collapse, history, and sound in a unique and thought-provoking way.
After its New York run, „Correspondences“ traveled to São Paulo, featuring abstract drawings made with red dye from Amazonian tree leaves. The exhibition, titled „A AMAZONIA,“ incorporates Smith’s words and Crasneanscki’s recordings from the Amazon region, creating a multi-sensory experience.
„Ich versuchte, durch den Geist des Amazonas zu denken“, sagte Smith und fügte hinzu, dass sie „den Stolz des Amazonas verspüren konnte, der der längste Fluss der Welt ist.“