Lauri Lest

Photo by Henry Griin

“Hungermusik” was a temporary sound and light installation created as part of the Hungerburg2024 festival, using the kitchen of the abandoned Mereranna holiday home in Narva-Jõesuu, along with the kitchen appliances, shafts, and lights left behind there. In a way, it can be said that it was a concert of the former holiday home’s kitchen appliances. The music heard at the concert told the story of this kitchen’s glory days, when the cooks worked there in a unified rhythm, chopping vegetables, cooking dumplings, and preparing other delicious dishes.

10 special speakers were attached to various kitchen appliances, and the space was equipped with a total of 24 LED lights. Exhibited as part of Hungerburg2024 festival (Tartu Uus Teater) 14th to 18th August 2024, in Mereranna holiday home, Narva-Jõesuu, Estonia.

Cycle duration: 13′

Artist, composer, lighting designer, and installer: Lauri Lest
Lighting technician: Kärt Karro (Tartu Uus Teater)
Initial concept: Ivar Põllu and Tartu Uus Teater
Technical and organizational support: Tartu Uus Teater
Special thanks: Joel Väli, Estonian Academy of Arts

The installation was supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment and the Estonian Authors’ Society.

“If medals were to be awarded, then among the creators, Lauri Lest would get the gold from me this time. His 13-minute sound and light installation in the sanatorium’s kitchen, where the decayed rooms from the dumpling workshop to the freezing chambers came to life, with bass notes trembling in the iron stoves and spirit beings rustling in the ventilation shafts, was an absolute delight.”
– wrote Mele Pesti in the Estonian cultural newspaper Müürileht, 10 September 2024 (translated from Estonian with ChatGPT). Read the full article in Estonian here: “Mälestused, märgid, meie. Eskapistlik retriit Narva-Jõesuus”

Photos: Henry Griin