Lauri Lest

Photo: Lauri Lest

“I went down to the sculpture collection at KUMU to select works for my exhibition, and the sculpture collection director, Juta, pointed to a plaster hand, saying, ‘Look, this would sit well on top of a piano.’ I replied that I didn’t have a piano. Juta was surprised, ‘How could you not have a piano? A piano was the symbol of a bourgeois home during the first Estonian era. Every self-respecting middle-class person had to have one, whether they played it or not.’ Well, then I needed a piano. But why should the piano just sit there idly, serving as a pedestal for a plaster hand? Better for it to play sounds.” – Urmas Lüüs, exhibition main artist

The Piano of Mr. N is an 8-channel sound art installation with music, built from an old upright piano, solenoids and vibration speakers. The installation is part of Urmas Lüüs’ exhibition The Life and Death of Mr. N: Bourgeois Spaces by Urmas Lüüs, exhibited from 4th October 2024 to 16th February 2025 at KUMU Art Museum in Estonia. Read more about the exhibition here.

Cycle duration: 14′

Artist, composer: Lauri Lest
Exhibition main artist and initial concept of the installation: Urmas Lüüs
Exhibition curator: Eero Epner
Lighting: Oliver Kulpsoo
Technical support and exhibition space: KUMU Art Museum, Estonia
Special thanks: Urmas Lüüs, Maris Karjatse, Sandra Ernits, Estonian Academy of Arts, Erik Alalooga, Raul Keller, Aksel Haagensen

Photos: Lauri Lest