Soundwalk Collective

Soundwalk Collective is an international experimental sound art collective founded in 2001 by Stephan Crasneanscki, who was joined by Simone Merli in 2008. The group is based in Berlin and New York.^[1][2] They have engaged in collaborations with other musicians such as the American singer Patti Smith on the Perfect Vision Trilogy.^[3][4][5]

Soundwalk Collective’s musical work emerges from a multidisciplinary approach rooted primarily in psychogeography and in the exploration of recording and synthesis. Elements of observation of nature, non-linear narrative, ethnography, and anthropology are intertwined in their work.

In order to develop this approach, they have travelled across the world, from cities to remote locations, for extended periods of investigation and fieldwork to source the materials that form the core of their work.^[6][7][8][9]

Since their foundation, Soundwalk Collective have collaborated with numerous musicians including American singer, songwriter and poet Patti Smith, Ethiopian Jazz musician Mulatu Astatke, American photographer Nan Goldin, French-Swiss film director Jean-Luc Godard, minimalist composer Philip Glass, film director Abel Ferrera, and French pop singer and actor Charlotte Gainsbourg.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

Soundwalk Collective composed the soundtrack for the documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, directed by Laura Poitras and centered on the life and work of Nan Goldin; the film was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2022.^[15][16]

Other notable collaborators include American actor Willem Dafoe, experimental vocalist and composer Lyra Pramuk, German electronic music producer Atom TM, Russian DJ and music producer Nina Kraviz, Turkish filmmaker Kaan Müjdeci, German filmmaker and photographer Wim Wenders, German film director and screenwriter Werner Herzog, and American filmmaker and musician Jim Jarmusch.

They have also written original scores for contemporary dance choreographer Sasha Waltz and worked with Italian fashion brand Bottega Veneta on a special event in 2025.^{[17][18][19][20]}

Their collaboration with American sound artist Bernie Krause led to the creation of a sound piece for Fondation Cartier in Paris in 2025.^[21]

Soundwalk Collective have performed at Opéra de Lyon, CTM Festival, KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Barbican Centre, Berghain, Centre Georges Pompidou, Florence Gould Hall, Mobile Art by Zaha Hadid in Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York; MUDAM, MuCEM, Museo Madre, New Museum, The Foundation Carmingac, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Palazzo Reale in Milan, La Triennale, Radialsystem V, documenta14 in Athens and Kassel, Funkhaus in Berlin, Manifesta12 in Palermo.^{[22][1][23][8][24]}

Correspondences is a collaborative project between Soundwalk Collective and musician and writer Patti Smith. The project brings together sound and spoken word and has been presented in exhibition and installation formats at international cultural institutions, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and Onassis Stegi in Athens.^[25][26]

Invisible Landscape is a sound installation project by Soundwalk Collective that forms part of the collective’s ongoing work with site- and context-specific sound. The project has been presented in exhibition contexts, including at Biennale Son in Switzerland, and incorporates recorded voices by invited artists as part of its installation-based approach to sound.^[27][28]

Soundwalk Collective composed the sound installation for A Roof for Silence, an artwork by architect Hala Wardé presented at the Lebanese Pavilion during the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia in 2022.^[29][30]

The collective also collaborated with photographer Nan Goldin on the touring exhibition This Will Not End Well, composing sound for several of Goldin’s video installations.^[31]

The exhibition has been presented at institutions including Moderna Museet in Stockholm, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan.^[32][33]

Selection of solo exhibitions:^[1]

• Rubin Museum of Art in New York
• Kurimanzutto in New York ^[34]
• The Bardo National Museum in Tunis
• The Beit Museum in Beirut
• Belém Cultural Center in Lisbon^[35]
• MAMM Medellín Museum of Modern Art ^[36]
• Piknic in Seoul ^[37]
• Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo ^[38]
• Times Square in New York, which hosted the Midnight Moment installation Jungle-ized in 2016.

Albums^[39]

• Nyc: Lower East Side (2004)
• Kill The Ego (2008)
• La Brulure (2009)
• Medea (2013)
• Berghain: Surface Vibration & Resonances (2013)
• Last Beat (2014)
• Sons of the Wind (2014)
• Killer Road (2016)
• Khandroma (2016)
• Before Music There Is Blood (2017)
• Transmissions (2017)
• Kreatur (2017)
• Death Must Die (2018)
• What We Leave Behind – Jean-Luc Godard Archives (2018)
• What We Leave Behind – The Remixes (2018)
• What We Leave Behind – Jean-Luc Godard Archives – Artist Edition (2019)
• The Peyote Dance (2019)
• Mummer Love (2019)
• Oscillation (2019)
• The women's march (2019)
• The Time of the Night – Fondation Carmignac (2020)
• Peradam (2020)
• A Roof For Silence (2021)
• Memory lost / sirens (2021)
• Lovotic (2022)
• The Perfect Vision (2022)
• All The Beauty And The Bloodshed (2023)
• It's All Breaking Apart (2024)
• Correspondences vol. 1 (2024)