Venice Biennale: Patti Smith inaugurates the Holy See Pavilion

Vatican News 

A sonic prayer entrusted to the distinctive voice of Patti Smith is set to inaugurate the Holy See Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale on 8 May, 2026.

Together with Soundwalk Collective, an international experimental sound art collective, Patti Smith presents Sonic Prayer on Friday afternoon in the Church of Santa Maria di Nazareth, known as the Church of the Scalzi, for the exhibition project promoted by the Dicastery for Culture and Education.

Thus, the event, reserved for a limited number of guests in order to preserve its intimate and contemplative character, is the first public event for the Holy See Pavilion, entitled The Ear Is The Eye Of The Soul, that will accompany Biennale visitors on an immersive journey dedicated to listening as an artistic, spiritual, and human experience, from 9 May to 22 November 2026

In the spirit of Hildegard

The project draws inspiration from Hildegard of Bingen — mystic, musician, theologian, and Doctor of the Church — whose understanding of sound as a path to knowledge and inner harmony forms the conceptual heart of the initiative. It is within this perspective that the choice of Patti Smith takes on particular significance, as an artist whose work has always merged poetry, music, and the quest for spiritual enrichment.

“For Hildegard, sound was a way of knowing, a link between the soul and the world,” explain curators Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers, adding that “Patti Smith’s work has always carried the same inspiration.”

Friday afternoon, they say, will provide the occasion for an intimate encounter, the first listening experience of a Pavilion that will be followed by many others. “There is no other voice we would have chosen to inaugurate it,” the curators say.

The performance will see Patti Smith joined by Stephan Crasneanscki, Simone Merli, Diego Espinosa Cruz González, and Pedro Maia, in an interplay of voice, electronics, percussion, and visual imagery for an immersive experience that includes a concert, meditation, and a sound installation.

Two venues, one invitation to slow down

The Holy See Pavilion unfolds across two complementary Venetian venues. The first is the hidden Carmelite garden – the “Giardino Mistico dei Carmelitani Scalzi” -  in the Cannaregio district, a space normally closed to the public and transformed into an immersive sonic journey through contributions by such artists as Patti Smith, Brian Eno, Meredith Monk, and Jim Jarmusch, whose works enter into dialogue with the natural sounds of the garden.

Across the city in the Castello district, the second venue is the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, which was at the centre of the Vatican’s project for the 2025 Architecture Biennale. Here, a “contemporary scriptorium” takes shape through installations, living archives, and works dedicated to the spiritual and cultural legacy of Hildegard of Bingen.

Commissioner of the Pavilion is José Tolentino de Mendonça, while the curatorship has been entrusted to Hans Ulrich Obrist and Ben Vickers.

The project was conceived as a cultural and spiritual response to a time marked by acceleration, noise, and fragmentation.

Cardinal Tolentino himself underlined this at the presentation of the Pavilion, explaining that art can become a place of contemplation capable of generating encounter, peace, and hope for the future.

The official inauguration of the Pavilion is scheduled for 6 p.m. Yet its first language will be that of music — or rather, of listening.