{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-js","path":"/soundwalk-collective-on-representing-the-holy-see-at-the-61st-venice-biennale/","result":{"data":{"wordpressPost":{"id":121968,"slug":"soundwalk-collective-on-representing-the-holy-see-at-the-61st-venice-biennale","title":"Soundwalk Collective on Representing the Holy See at the 61st Venice Biennale","excerpt":"“For a few months, there is a collective willingness across audiences, institutions, and artists, to engage seriously with what is being proposed. That kind of shared attention is increasingly rare”","content":"\n<p><strong>“For a few months, there is a collective willingness across audiences, institutions, and artists, to engage seriously with what is being proposed. That kind of shared attention is increasingly rare”</strong></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>ArtReview</em>&nbsp;sent a questionnaire to artists and curators exhibiting in and curating the various national pavilions of the 2026 Venice Biennale, the responses to which will be published daily in the leadup to and during the Venice Biennale, which runs from 9 May through 22 November.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Soundwalk Collective (Stephan Crasneanscki and Simone Merli) is representing the Holy See; the pavilion is in the Complesso di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, Fondamenta S. Gioacchin, Castello 450&nbsp;and Giardino Mistico dei Carmelitani Scalzi,&nbsp;Cannaregio.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Celebrating Visions. Versace partners with&nbsp;</em>ArtReview<em>&nbsp;to share stories from the 2026 Venice Biennale.</em></p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img src=\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1-1230x820.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-121982\" srcset=\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1-1230x820.png 1230w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1-600x400.png 600w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1-300x200.png 300w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1-768x512.png 768w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1-1536x1024.png 1536w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1.png 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1230px) 100vw, 1230px\" /><figcaption>Soundwalk Collective (Stephan Crasneanscki and Simone Merli). Photo: Nan Goldin</figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ArtReview </strong><em>Tell </em>ArtReview<em> what you plan to exhibit in Venice. What has influenced or inspired you?</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Simone Merli (on behalf of Soundwalk Collective) </strong>What we are building in Venice is not an exhibition in the conventional sense, but a listening environment that unfolds over time. In the Giardino Mistico dei Carmelitani Scalzi, the work takes the form of a single, continuous sonic composition that is composed collectively by a group of invited artists, yet held together as one body. It moves between voice, instrumentation, silence and the subtle presence of the garden itself.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The starting point is Hildegard of Bingen, not as a historical figure but as an enduring source. Her understanding of sound as a form of knowledge, as something that binds the human body to a larger cosmic order, has been fundamental. We were also guided by the specific conditions of the site: a monastic garden where time is structured by prayer, where attention is cultivated rather than demanded. The work had to emerge from that pace, that quality of listening.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our role as Soundwalk Collective operates on two levels. We are contributing a composition within this larger body, but also shaping the overall sonic architecture of the pavilion by working closely with each invited artist so that their individual pieces can coexist, overlap and resonate. The intention is not to unify these works, but to create the conditions in which they can remain distinct while still forming a coherent, living composition.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alongside this, we are developing a sculptural element in the garden that gathers environmental data in real time – micro-variations in light and movement, gradual shifts in plant structure, electromagnetic and atmospheric activity, the influence of lunar and solar cycles – and uses this information to subtly modulate the sound installation. The garden becomes an active participant in the composition, continuously attuning the work to its own rhythms and transformations, revealing itself as a small cosmos where multiple temporalities and energies converge.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AR</strong> <em>In what ways (if at all) does your work relate to the theme of the Biennale exhibition, </em>In Minor Keys<em>?<br><br></em><strong>SM </strong>The idea of ‘minor keys’ resonates very directly with what we are trying to do. Not in a strictly musical sense but as a way of shifting attention towards what is quieter, slower, less immediately visible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The project asks for a different kind of engagement, one that is closer to attunement than to interpretation. There is no central spectacle, no singular point of focus. Instead, things appear and disappear. A voice emerges, then dissolves. A frequency passes through the space. You are never asked to look at something but rather to remain with what is unfolding.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In that sense, the work is very much aligned with the idea of the ‘minor’: it resists dominance and avoids amplification in favour of proximity.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AR</strong> <em>Why is the Venice Biennale still important, if at all?</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SM </strong>It remains one of the few places where radically different artistic positions can coexist in close proximity without being forced into a single narrative. That in itself is valuable.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But perhaps more importantly, it still creates a situation where attention is concentrated. For a few months, there is a collective willingness across audiences, institutions, and artists, to engage seriously with what is being proposed. That kind of shared attention is increasingly rare.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether that attention leads to anything lasting is another question, but the condition from which it emerges is still meaningful.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AR</strong> <em>What role does a national pavilion play at a time of increasing confrontational nationalisms? Is it about expressing difference or commonality?<br><br></em><strong>SM </strong>In this case, the notion of a ‘national’ pavilion is already slightly displaced. The Holy See does not operate as a nation in the usual sense and the project for the pavilion is built from a multiplicity of voices, geographies and practices.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>What interested us was not the representation of identity but the possibility of creating a shared space based on coexistence. A space where different artistic languages can remain distinct yet still resonate within a common structure.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If there is something that emerges, it is not a unified statement but a form of relation.</p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img src=\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/7.-The-Pavilion-of-the-Holy-See-The-Ear-is-the-Eye-of-the-Soul.-Giardino-Mistico-Venice.-Photo-David-Levene-1230x820.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-121992\" srcset=\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/7.-The-Pavilion-of-the-Holy-See-The-Ear-is-the-Eye-of-the-Soul.-Giardino-Mistico-Venice.-Photo-David-Levene-1230x820.png 1230w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/7.-The-Pavilion-of-the-Holy-See-The-Ear-is-the-Eye-of-the-Soul.-Giardino-Mistico-Venice.-Photo-David-Levene-600x400.png 600w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/7.-The-Pavilion-of-the-Holy-See-The-Ear-is-the-Eye-of-the-Soul.-Giardino-Mistico-Venice.-Photo-David-Levene-300x200.png 300w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/7.-The-Pavilion-of-the-Holy-See-The-Ear-is-the-Eye-of-the-Soul.-Giardino-Mistico-Venice.-Photo-David-Levene-768x512.png 768w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/7.-The-Pavilion-of-the-Holy-See-The-Ear-is-the-Eye-of-the-Soul.-Giardino-Mistico-Venice.-Photo-David-Levene-1536x1025.png 1536w, https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/7.-The-Pavilion-of-the-Holy-See-The-Ear-is-the-Eye-of-the-Soul.-Giardino-Mistico-Venice.-Photo-David-Levene.png 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1230px) 100vw, 1230px\" /><figcaption>Photo David Levene</figcaption></figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AR</strong> <em>Who, for you, is the most important artist (in any discipline) that your country has produced?</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SM </strong>It would be difficult to answer this in singular terms, particularly as our own practice is already formed through multiple cultural contexts.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If there is a figure who feels central to this project, it is Hildegard of Bingen, not as a representative of a nation but as someone whose work exceeds those boundaries entirely. Her thinking moves across disciplines and centuries, and remains strangely precise in relation to the present moment.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AR</strong> <em>What is something you want people to know about your nation that they might not know already?</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SM </strong>Perhaps that what we call a ‘nation’ is often less coherent than it appears. It is made of overlapping histories, languages, contradictions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AR</strong> <em>Given that you are exhibiting in a national pavilion, is there something (a quality or an issue or attitude) that distinguishes the art of that nation from that of others? That makes it particular? Are there specific contexts that it responds to? Or do you think that art is a universal language that goes beyond social, political or geographic boundaries?</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SM </strong>Art is not universal in the sense of being identical across contexts. It is always shaped by specific historical, social and linguistic conditions.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But at the same time, it has the capacity to move beyond those conditions by allowing them to be encountered from elsewhere.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this pavilion, the works are deeply rooted in different practices and traditions yet they are held within a shared sonic structure. What emerges is a form of permeability where differences are points of contact.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AR</strong> <em>What, other than art, are you looking forward to seeing –&nbsp;or doing –&nbsp;while you are in Venice?</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SM</strong> Recording sound is always part of our process. We are interested in taking in the city as a living environment: listening to the lagoon, to the movement of water, to the quieter acoustics that exist beyond the more visible layers of the city.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>We are also looking forward to experiencing the other pavilions and the works being developed across Venice, particularly in that moment just before the opening, when things are still in formation and the creative process is still perceptible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spending time in gardens is also important to us. Venice has a number of spaces where nature is carefully held within the city, offering a different rhythm of experience. Returning to the work of the architect and designer Carlo Scarpa is something we are especially looking forward to.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AR</strong> <em>Could you give us a brief overview of your average working day while creating your presentation in Venice?</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SM </strong>There is no fixed structure, but the process tends to move between very focused periods of listening and more technical phases of construction.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mornings often begin with reviewing material such as compositions and recordings. A lot of time is spent simply listening, sometimes repeatedly, trying to understand how each piece might enter into relation with the others.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rest of the day shifts between spatial work in the garden and dialoguing with collaborators. It is a continuous process of calibration rather than production in the conventional sense.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>AR</strong> <em>Can art really change the world?</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SM </strong>Probably not in the way the question implies.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it can change the conditions through which the world is perceived by altering attention, creating space for different forms of experience and making new things visible.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>And sometimes, that is where change begins.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The&nbsp;</em><a href=\"https://artreview.com/category/venice-biennale-2026/\"><em>61st Venice Biennale</em></a><em>&nbsp;runs 9 May through 22 November 2026</em></p>\n","path":"/soundwalk-collective-on-representing-the-holy-see-at-the-61st-venice-biennale/","format":"standard","date":"07 July 2026","rawDate":"2026-07-07T10:24:47.000Z","branch":{"name":"artreview.com"},"author":{"name":"ArtReview","path":"/author/artreview/"},"category":{"name":"Venice Biennale: Artist Q&As","path":"/category/venice-questionnaire/"},"featured_media":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1.png","caption":"","alt_text":"","media_details":{"width":2000,"height":1333,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1-300x200.png","width":300,"height":200},"medium":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1-600x400.png","width":600,"height":400},"large":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1-1230x820.png","width":1230,"height":820},"wordpress_1536x1536":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Soundwalk-Collective-Stphan-Crasneanscki-Simone-Merli-Portrait-Photo-by-Nan-Goldin-2019-Hi-Res-1-1536x1024.png","width":1536,"height":1024},"wordpress_2048x2048":null}}},"acf":{"article_artist":null,"article_video":null,"article_audio":null,"article_collaboration":"","article_custom_html_snippet":"","article_featured_title":"","article_featured_description":"","article_highlight":false,"article_custom_link_url":"","hero_image":null,"seo_title":"Soundwalk Collective on Representing the Holy See at the 61st Venice Biennale","seo_description":"ArtReview sent a questionnaire to artists and curators exhibiting in and curating the various national pavilions of the 2026 Venice Biennale. Soundwalk Collective is representing the Holy See.","article_related_articles":[{"id":119519,"title":"Norton Maza on Representing Chile at the 61st Venice Biennale","path":"/norton-maza-on-representing-chile-at-the-61st-venice-biennale/","author":{"name":"ArtReview","path":"/author/artreview/"},"category":{"name":"Venice Biennale: Artist 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