Villa Aurora X Lookout FM Radio - Episode 20 of "if the house could speak"
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.
We are 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 20
During her time in Los Angeles, 2026 Thomas Mann Fellow Margaryta Surzhenko reflected on her experiences with the war in Ukraine and the peculiarities of her life in Germany. She processes these thoughts in prose form, focusing on advocating democratic values and a culture of communication that connects people. Her work explores what it means to speak when silence itself can feel both comforting and dangerous.
In this episode Surzhenko reads from this previously unpublished work, interwoven by original music composed by Luis RosaLebron in response to her literary texts. The compositions are being performed by RosaLebron on Thomas Mann’s historic Faustus piano, accompanied by violinist Andrew Krastins.
Thomas Mann aquired his piano during his exile from Germany in the 1940s. The instrument serves as a material reminder of displacement and artistic resilience, creating a connection between different experiences of war, exile, and the healing power of art.
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.
