Patti Smith Concert at the LUMA Foundation
- 2 days ago
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📍 LUMA Foundation, Arles
▪️ iDzia Installation: the sound, the lighting, the video
When Poetry Meets Sound and Image
From July through November 2026, the Grande Halle at the LUMA Foundation will host CORRESPONDENCES, an artwork born from a decade-long collaboration between American artist Patti Smith and the Soundwalk Collective. Two exceptional evenings also offered the audience the chance to enjoy a performance that combined music, poetry, and cinema.
Patti Smith, a Rock & Roll Icon
Born in 1946 in Chicago, Patti Smith established herself in the 1970s as a major figure in the New York music scene, before becoming an artist recognized as much for her music as for her writing and visual art.
Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and awarded the Legion of Honor, she continues her artistic work today, notably with the Soundwalk Collective, an international collective dedicated to experimental sound art founded by photographer Stephan Crasneanscki and composer Simone Merli.
An auditory and visual odyssey at LUMA Arles
The exhibition CORRESPONDENCES brings together field recordings captured by the Soundwalk Collective duo in remote areas. Projected onto multiple screens, this composition of images and sounds forms a true sensory architecture. Through Patti Smith's voice, literature, memory, and poetry intertwine, turning the installation into a meditation on the world's fragility and its enduring traces.
The Opening of a New Art Season
Hosted by the LUMA Foundation, the musician performed on July 5 and 6 in two one-hour live performances alongside Stephan Crasneanscki and Simone Merli. On stage, the American artist was also accompanied by cellist Lucy Railton and percussionist Diego Espinosa Cruz Gonzales, while artist Pedro Maia added a visual dimension with his live projections.
The event also featured a book-signing session and extended evenings of music. This artistic interlude thus served as the highlight of the opening of the LUMA Foundation’s new exhibition series.
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