Gryllotalpa is a multi-track sound piece created for Barrocal Park during the Talking Stones residency in Castelo Branco. It is played on a constellation of small autonomous speakers built for the occasion.

The performance takes place at night in a natural amphitheatre formed by granite blocks.

A recorded voice reads a science fiction report describing a mineral planet that could, in reality, be Earth. Then, moving through the darkness on the surrounding hills and plateaus, the artist lights up and deploys, step by step, the sound devices, each adorned with a small LED.

The composition is inspired by the song of crickets, which are numerous at this time of year. It incorporates electromagnetic recordings that make activities invisible to our senses perceptible and recall the frequencies of certain insects.

At first almost imperceptible, the sound crescendos, then decreases again. After a few seconds of silence, the calm returns, giving way to the real song of the crickets, which resume with renewed vigour.