Villa Aurora X Lookout FM Radio - Episode 12 of "if the house could speak"
In January of 2025 the Palisades Fire came within feet of Villa Aurora. Miraculously, the house survived, and with it the radio transmitter that broadcasts from there throughout the Santa Monica Mountains and the beaches below.
This series explores the voices, past and present, that reverberate at Lion and Marta Feuchtwanger’s former home. For the past 30 years, Villa Aurora has been an artist residence, a place where exile and expression meet, where history and contemporary events converge.
During the process of rebuilding and awaiting our artists’ return, we will be broadcasting newly produced, archival and historical footage for you to listen to and maybe wonder: Is this really only a house or, like Carl Jung suggests, can the composition of a room induce the realization of new truths?
Each episode of if the house could speak will be broadcast on a loop for 24 hours with no interruption starting at 12 PM Pacific Daylight Time. For our listeners across the world, that corresponds to 7 PM Coordinated Universal Time and 9 PM Middle European Time.
Episode 12
And then you hear your heartbeat
Recorded at Los Leones Canyon, Villa Aurora premises and surroundings, August / September 2024
This piece is conceived through field recordings from the Villa Aurora premises - the garden, the courtyard, the salon - the greater surroundings of it, and moments in which I connect directly to the soundscapes through voicing, playing the violin, the in-house organ, and small bells and objects. The spine of the entire work is an actual walk through the Los Leones Canyon: a loop from Villa Aurora, through the canyon, the beachfront, and back to it at the end. This used to be the daily route of Marta Feuchtwanger, and as a passionate hiker finding deep artistic inspiration in nature, I was inspired by the idea of making this piece. Along the walk I recorded short descriptions and thoughts passing through my mind, and composed the full piece by weaving these spoken fragments with the surrounding sounds, the instrumental and field recordings, and the shifting atmosphere of moving through these various mental spaces and landscapes. The work unfolds as a poetic essay of a time spent in connection to a place with personal meaning to me. In the 90s, I first came to Los Angeles for a period of three years as a student at USC. Building upon this relationship from my youth happens through memory, attention and conscious communication with a constant reality - one in which I am a passer-by. It is a document of this one time.
A lot of the work on this radio piece is done on the go, while walking, traveling, flying. The authentic sounds remain without additional post-production, besides minimal balance changes and duration adjustments. The walk took place on September 19th 2024, from 8:01 in the morning. These notes were taken on August 20th 2025, while listening to the full one and a half hour long sound file of the walk for the first time, in the air on a flight from Lombok to Jakarta. This piece is deeply personal and meaningful to me, and I thank LOOKOUT.FM and Villa Aurora Los Angeles for the commission for their broadcast “If the House Could Speak.”
Biliana Voutchkova
Biliana Voutchkova: composition, organ, violin, voice, field recordings, objects
Recording assistance for Villa Aurora courtyard recordings: Sam Rowell
Quiet presence: Laura Stellacci Mixed by Biliana Voutchkova
Mastered by Sam Rowell
Part 2
Like A Giant Instrument
This is a recording of Biliana Voutchkova’s site specific live performance at the Museum of Jurassic Technology on Sunday, September 8th, 2024.
An aural ritual commemorating recent deaths of human and nonhuman beings, inviting the listeners to a state of raised attentiveness towards personal and imaginary habitats.
Biliana Voutchkova: composition, violin, voice, field recordings, bells
Co-produced by Villa Aurora and The Museum of Jurassic Technology.
About LOOKOUT FM
LOOKOUT FM is a West Coast terrestrial radio home for the broadcast of "transmission art:" experimental audio composition, modern serials, data sonification, radio plays, multi-day compositions, and radio-centric performances. Their licensed stations in Burbank, Hollywood, and Pacific Palisades function as FM exhibition spaces where radio art is presented without regard to constraints of time, structure, or commercial consideration.
