00:07A magical almost religious performance was presented by Patti Smith and Sunwalk Collective
00:12at the Church of Santa Maria di Nazareth as part of the official opening of the Holy
00:16Sea Pavilion of the Vatican at the 61st Venice Biennale. The half-hour event organized in
00:22collaboration with Onassis Culture featured three works created specifically for the occasion.
00:26I have with Patti Smith a long collaboration with more than now and nearly 15 years. We met in a
00:31plane
00:32by accident and we called that destiny and since that we have worked many many times together. When
00:39I had the opportunity to work for the Vatican I immediately called Patti and proposed to do this
00:47project and being part of the series of artists that will be in this project and so when we went
00:54to this garden I saw this little chapel Mary in the very end of the garden. I called Patti and
00:58said
00:59this is your chapel, this is where we should do your voice and your creation there. So we recorded
01:04in New York and made an homage to Virgin Mary where Patti is becoming Mary. She's embodying
01:12the person of Mary as a woman, as a mother. The text and hymns performed by the acclaimed American
01:17singer-songwriter were written by Saint Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century Benedictine nun,
01:23poet, healer and composer. The event took place within the framework of the Vatican Pavilion exhibition
01:28titled The E.R. is the Eye of the Soul. The Pavilion took the form of a sonic prayer and
01:33invitation to the reflective act of listening, inspired by the life and legacy of Saint Hildegard of Bingen.
01:40Walking through the beautiful garden, wearing headphones, they encounter new commission works,
01:44woven into a unified soundscape by Soundwap collective. The group is based in Berlin and New York City and
01:50has collaborated several times with Patti Smith. The performance by Patti Smith and Soundwap collective
01:56took place on Friday May 8th at the Church of Santa Maria di Nazareth in Venice.
