Patti Smith, A New Year

The punk poet laureate’s CIRCA 2021 commission marked the 50th anniversary of her first poetry recital at St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery on 10 February 1971. Each evening, she recited a set of new poems on the iconic Piccadilly Lights with words of “Thanksgiving”, says Smith, as well as a personal poem dedicated to Greta Thunberg on her 18th Birthday, 3 January 2021. Smith’s month-long programme conveyed a story of optimism along with calls for radical action, in the face of social and environmental breakdown, coinciding with the end of the Donald Trump’s presidency and ‘A New Year’ after the catastrophes witnessed in 2020.

Patti Smith is one of the most influential cultural figures of the past fifty years. A pioneering artist, poet, musician, writer and performer, she transformed the relationship between poetry and popular music, forging a practice that continues to inspire generations across literature, visual art, activism and contemporary culture.

Emerging from New York’s downtown creative scene in the early 1970s, Smith became a defining voice of artistic independence through works that combine lyrical intensity with social consciousness. Her landmark debut album Horses (1975) remains one of the most celebrated records in music history, while books including Just Kids, winner of the National Book Award, have established her as one of the most important literary voices of her generation. Throughout her career, she has remained committed to the belief that creativity carries both personal and civic responsibility, using her work to address themes of freedom, justice, memory, environmental stewardship and human connection.

In January 2021, Patti Smith inaugurated CIRCA’s 2021 programme with A New Year, one of the platform’s earliest public commissions and a gift to London following a year defined by isolation and uncertainty. Broadcast from Piccadilly Lights at the beginning of a new year, the project combined poetry, performance and reflection while reaffirming the capacity of art to connect people across distance and circumstance. Alongside the commission, Smith released Our World, a series of four hand-signed editions drawn directly from her personal sketchbooks and dedicated to climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Awarded the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Smith’s influence extends far beyond music. Through a practice that moves effortlessly between page, stage and public space, she continues to demonstrate how art can serve as a force for imagination, compassion and meaningful change.