This work considers the sounds of Sant Andreu from a non-human perspective - that of a pigeon. Pigeons are ubiquitous to many large European cities, yet they are typically not considered valued residents of the community. Assembling around our feet looking for stray scraps of food, pigeons often escape our attention, or when they do get it, it’s just to clear them out of the way.

Carrying many diseases, pigeons have a reputation as ‘rats of the sky’. The artist’s reflected however, that during their time in Sant Andreu with the COVID-19 pandemic at its height, it was other humans which posed the greatest risk. As the artists moved about the city, face masks on, they felt more comfortable to be surrounded by pigeons than people.

At the end of each day, when the curfew forced people inside by 22:00, the artists couldn’t help but feel somehow jealous of the pigeons. As people checked the time and begrudgingly made their way home in the evening, the pigeons would stay outside. As the artists sat inside their confined apartment, the pigeons and the many other animals of the city, were free to roam and feast as they chose.

This work imagines the sounds of Sant Andreu from the perspective of one particular pigeon. Using sounds recorded around the city, the story is structured by the artist’s observations of the pigeons and the city during their stay. The sound journey alongside this pigeon begins with them cleaning themself under the water fountain in Sant Andreu’s main square. As you listen to this piece you are encouraged to imagine yourself as this particular pigeon, using the layers of sound as clues to where you might be and what you might be doing throughout the city - on the ground and in the air.