Patti Smith: A NEW YEAR

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Patti Smith's installation, which combines musical performance with poetry, will unfold over the 31 days of January, with two live recorded events on the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve and on the date of the US Presidential Inauguration on 20 January 2021. 

The commission marks the 50th anniversary of Smith’s first poetry recital at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery on 10 February 1971. Each evening, she will recite a set of poems, filmed by her friend and long-term collaborator, Steven Sebring, with words of “Thanksgiving”, says Smith, as well as a personal poem dedicated to Greta Thunberg on her 18th Birthday, 3 January 2021. 

“Some of the work I did in my bedroom, some in a recording studio and some at my desk,” says Smith. “I had to teach myself how to use photo-booth on my computer and then film myself reading a poem to the people, and then figure out how to send it to Josef. I’m sure there are 14-year-olds who can do this in five minutes but it took me quite a while to figure it out, but I got there and I’m so proud of myself. This is my contribution to the technological world.”  

The work conveys a story of optimism along with calls for radical action in the face of social and environmental breakdown to coincide with the end of the presidency of Donald Trump and a new start after the catastrophes witnessed in 2020.

For January, Patti Smith has created a series of 4 hand-signed prints, each priced £100 (excl.VAT) which will be available to purchase on WWW.CIRCA.ART/CIRCAECONOMY for a limited period from 1 January until 31 January, 2021. 

Visitors to Piccadilly Circus can connect their headphones to WWW.CIRCA.ART and receive a fully immersive audio-visual experience. The website also streams the artwork every evening at c.20:21GMT and hosts supporting content and archive material from previous CIRCA artists including Eddie Peake, Cauleen Smith and Ai Weiwei. 

To help support their free public programme, CIRCA is offering 1,000 people the opportunity to see their name on the Piccadilly Lights screen next year for £100. Visit the website for more info: https://circa.art/support-circa/​