My stairs sound like a cello (2025)
10 min 50 sec.
My Stairs Sound Like a Cello is a 10-minute and 50-second sound installation I presented at BOTH Gallery in 2025. It features recordings I made in 2020 in my very first home in London while testing a binaural microphone, where I focused on capturing the sounds of the environment and everyday objects around the house.
During one of these recordings, in one of the rooms of the house near the entrance stairs, I unexpectedly captured the sound of a cello played by my neighbors, along with their voices. The sound utterly captivated me, quickly becoming my intimate, secret discovery. I just couldn’t stop recording it—I wanted more, even though I knew it was wrong to eavesdrop on my neighbors like a peeping tom.
The sound of the cello, with its hesitations and repetitions, and my neighbors’ comments, had the magical and sensational quality of a secret message tucked inside a floorboard. I found wonder and surprise just around a corner of my house.
This serendipitous moment, discovered while I was recording under the stairs, has been recreated in the gallery, inviting the audience to experience the same unexpected encounter I had in a similar setting (on the stairs).
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Original location of the recording
During one of these recordings, in one of the rooms of the house near the entrance stairs, I unexpectedly captured the sound of a cello played by my neighbors, along with their voices. The sound utterly captivated me, quickly becoming my intimate, secret discovery. I just couldn’t stop recording it—I wanted more, even though I knew it was wrong to eavesdrop on my neighbors like a peeping tom.
The sound of the cello, with its hesitations and repetitions, and my neighbors’ comments, had the magical and sensational quality of a secret message tucked inside a floorboard. I found wonder and surprise just around a corner of my house.
This serendipitous moment, discovered while I was recording under the stairs, has been recreated in the gallery, inviting the audience to experience the same unexpected encounter I had in a similar setting (on the stairs).
Original location of the recording