written by joelle vitale

Evidence, a new exhibit at the Centre Pompidou, is the culmination of a long-term project and friendship between Patti Smith and the members of Soundwalk Collective, specifically Stephan Crasneanscki. Collectively, these artists have dedicated their time to diving into the artistic journeys, processes and works of artists which preceded them. Specifically, the three French poets: Arthur Rimbaud, René Dumaul and Antonin Artaud. From these explorations they went on to create three different albums inspired by their creative identities and consequently this exhibition.  

They traced back the expeditions, one may even say odysseys, taken by these three men around the world. Stephan retraced Rimbaud’s steps in the city of Harar and in the Abyssinian high plateau, Artaud’s steps in the Sierra Nevada and Daumals’ in the Himalayas. He returned with artifacts from these journeys which allowed Patti to somewhat sensorially understand the voyages of these men whilst working in depth with the poems born of their adventures.  

Patti and Stephan's wish was to translate the language of these authors into a sound. A sound that emulated the internal happenings and the origins of inspiration that birthed their own masterpieces. They released three separate and comprehensive albums for the work they created inspired by each artist.   

This exhibition is both a reproduction and a reaction to Patti and Stephan’s process working on these three projects. Before entering the exhibit, we are greeted with lengthy transcribed conversations between Patti and Stephan discussing aspects of their process in reference to each poet, along with simple streams of thoughts sparked by the work they have done. When entering the main exhibition space, you are given a set of headphones which play many of the sounds from Patti and Stephan’s albums, however without any of the words spoken by Patti in the albums. The sounds we are hearing are recognizable to us as common sounds of the natural world; a river flowing, rocks falling. 

The body of the exhibition is an installation. Both audibly and visually, there is no clear distinction between which poets inspired which works, instead we enter a living and breathing collage which you have no other choice but to live and breathe and become a part of. This collage features many of the artifacts collected by Stephen and those which Patti immersed herself in, individual works by the three poets and much of Patti’s art which had been inspired by the three men. Three of the four walls feature the same video projection playing at different times. The fourth wall is a massive display of the many papers and knick-knacks sourced through the project. Throughout the space one encounters a mélange of objects including engraved stones and buckets of grinded pigments. 

Evidence is an entirely immersive experience and requires at least half an hour of time spent to begin to grasp what one is sensing. There is not necessarily much cohesiveness in the artistic languages used, nor clearness as to what you are meant to focus on or gather from this space. Instead, Evidence hones in on a collective understanding and brings the viewer on a spiritual escapade. It is a return to a more intuitive nature and emphasizes the interconnectedness of people and of our subconscious. There are many different influences and minds which play into the final product and therefore is inherently an exhibit which breaks down time and space. Patti Smith and Stephan Crasneanscki have created a space which allows for a total connection with the self and with the primary factor of life which is our own bodies.  

 “All true languages are incomprehensible. In the act of collecting and recording we are trying to restore what came before language. Like an intuitive sense of truth.” - Patti Smith