Villa Aurora X Lookout FM

Info

If the house could speak is a special broadcast series presented by Villa Aurora & LOOKOUT FM airing every two weeks beginning June 26th on KFQM, 101.5 FM in the Pacific Palisades and online at http://lookout.fm.

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, 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 beginning at 12 PM Pacific Daylight Time. For our listeners across the world, that corresponds to 7PM Coordinated Universal Time and 9 PM Central European Time.

Find all the previously aired episodes in the archive at LOOKOUT FM.

Stay tuned!

Episodes

Episode 1 — Marta Feuchtwanger im Salon der Villa Aurora

1 | Marta Feuchtwanger & Feuchtwanger Refreshed

We begin the series with Marta Feuchtwanger’s own account of the Bel Air Fire that threatened to swallow the house and its library in 1961. In this chapter from her Interviews with Lawrence Weschler, Marta remembers what it was like and how the books have been saved during this time.

Recording courtesy of the UCLA Department of Special Collections.

Marta’s introduction will be followed by three pieces written by student playwrights of the MFA Dramatic Writing Program at USC. Three pieces that take on different perspectives on home as a place and as a sanctuary for the displaced, resilience and finding uplift in times of desperation.

Presented by USC Feuchtwanger Memorial Library and Villa Aurora, performed at the Glorya Kaufman Community Center at the Wende Museum.

2 | Angela Brussel & Hanno Leichtmann

Part 1 – Angela Brussel: echo of a sound removed

We start off the episode with Angela Brussel's poetic essay echo of a sound removed. Angela Brussel wrote this piece during her residency as a distinguished visitor at Villa Aurora in December of 2024. Beirut, where Angela lives was under bombardment. While geopolitical forces brought her to California, she unknowingly created the last account of living in the artist residence before the Palisades Fire broke out.

Part 2 – Hanno Leichtmann: Outerlands

During his 2021 residency at Villa Aurora, Hanno Leichtmann created a four-channel sound installation for the villa’s historic organ, built in 1929 and restored in 2010. Comparable to silent-era theatre organs, it features organ pipes, sound effects, a 49-piece marimbaphone, and 25 tubular bells—all playable from the console or via MIDI. Leichtmann explored the instrument through improvisation, MIDI sequencing, and experimental percussion techniques using various tools, capturing a wide range of unique sounds.

3 | POLITUNES & Feuchtwanger Refreshed

Part 1 – POLITUNES

This episode starts with a piece by Sergey Khismatov, a composer and multimedia artist whose works are presented at concert halls, art exhibitions and film festivals worldwide.

His multi-focused media work explores the spatial distribution of sound.

Part 2 – Feuchtwanger Refreshed

Sergey Khismatov's work will be followed by the second part of our latest Feuchtwanger Refreshed edition. Feuchtwanger Refreshed is an ongoing collaboration between USC's School of Dramatic Arts MFA Dramatic Writing Program, USC Libraries, and Villa Aurora. Graduate playwrights and their instructors present short scenes inspired by archival holdings and writings from USC's Feuchtwanger Memorial Library.

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.