Lai 7

2025 | site-specific sound and light installation with music

Photo: Mana Kaasik

8-channel sound and light installation featuring music and animated lighting. Exhibited as part of the Urban Festival UIT, 13–17 August 2025, Tartu, Estonia.

“Lai 7” was a sound and light installation created in an abandoned and decaying residential building in the heart of Tartu. In this installation, discarded household appliances and furniture made music, thereby elevating both themselves and their bleak surroundings beyond their status as mere waste. Music and lighting program was composed on-site at the building at Lai St. 7.

Cycle duration: 13′

Co-produced with the team of Urban Festival UIT
Special thanks to the owner of Lai St. 7, neighbours for the electricity, Tartu Uus Teater, Jaanus Kaasik and everyone who donated their stuff, volunteers, Tartu City, Maarja Hindoalla!

Read about Urban Festival UIT

In media

“On Lai Street, Lauri Lest has transformed a crumbling house into a symphony, drawing into its orchestra the abandoned furniture, a washing machine, a stove, a tin watering can, dishes, and even a nightstand. The lamps, too, sway rhythmically to the bass line of the wardrobe. The tension between the ruin and the music—growing ever richer and more beautiful—acts directly on the senses and is achingly moving. It is without doubt one of the most striking and powerful works, something you feel not only in the goosebumps along your own arms but also in the radiant faces of the other visitors.”
– wrote Riste Lehari in Areen/Eesti Ekspress, 21.08.2025 (translated from Estonian with ChatGPT). Read the full article in Estonian here: “Tartu muutus UITi ajal hiiglaslikuks mänguväljakuks”

“The author of the work spent an entire month in the abandoned house, and the installation was born on site. The symphony of household appliances and furniture, set to hum and throb, gave the building an indescribably kind and friendly heart. Even though the brick shell of the house seemed about to collapse at any moment, it greeted the entrant with an energy that struck like a blow. One visitor summed it up simply and precisely: “I don’t even know whether to laugh or cry.” The joy of sound was desperate, since it was created by an abandoned body.”
– wrote Anna-Liisa Unt in Sirp, 29.08.2025 (translated from Estonian with ChatGPT). Read the full article in Estonian here: “Tartul on midagi, mida ühelgi teisel linnal ei ole”