We were briefed to practice ethnography — observing our surroundings without imposing our own perspective. It was practice, to get used to how ethnography works: our topic was life in Bergamo, and we could observe whatever we wanted.
I decided to focus on the sounds of the city, calling the piece "Listening to Bergamo." I recorded on my iPhone, shooting most people from behind to protect their privacy.
I made this film because I noticed a real shift across the city — and it was fascinating to understand a place just by sound: people biking, dogs barking, laughter, some streets so quiet I could hear my own footsteps. The ups and downs of the city, told through sound alone.
Sound reflects a city — it reveals which places are alive and which are forgotten. Some residential parts of central Bergamo were completely quiet, while others were full of life. Parks were rich with birdsong, but even nature wasn't spared — trees near pedestrian streets still had to listen to heavy traffic. In busy, traffic-filled spaces, people spoke less. But where people felt they owned the space, they talked, laughed, sat in comfortable silence with friends and dogs. The bicycle bells, the pigeons, the birds — this is the real soul of Bergamo.
What stayed with me most was learning how to show something without putting my own perspective on it. That, to me, is the real value of this exercise.
