Beyond the Facade: Open House Vilnius Adds a Soundtrack to the City
Architecture is often described as “frozen music,” but this May, the Lithuanian capital is melting that metaphor into a tangible sensory experience. As the global Open House movement—which originally began in London in 1992—prepares for its latest iteration in Vilnius, the festival is celebrating its tenth anniversary by moving beyond the visual. For the 2024 edition, Open House Vilnius is introducing a series of bespoke sound installations designed to redefine how visitors perceive the relationship between physical space and the feeling of “home.”
On May 16-17, the festival will open the doors to some of the city’s most guarded architectural gems. While the event has always focused on the stories hidden behind closed doors, this year’s collaboration with the creative platform “Teleduetas” adds a layer of auditory storytelling. Three specific locations have been selected to host these installations, each using music to interpret the concept of domesticity and belonging in a modern urban environment.
A Sensory Evolution for the 10th Anniversary
The theme of this year’s festival explores the multifaceted nature of home—a concept that the organisers argue is built from more than just bricks and mortar. The inclusion of sound is a deliberate attempt to capture the intangible elements of living: the echoes of a hallway, the ritual of playing a record, and the digital connectivity that defines 21st-century life.
At the heart of these installations is a new composition titled “Pasaulis Tavo” (The World is Yours). The track is a stylistic hybrid, blending contemporary pop with a symphonic arrangement to mirror the architectural diversity of Vilnius itself—a city where Baroque spires stand alongside Soviet-era Brutalism and sleek modern glass. According to Jurgita Talačkienė, brand manager at Tele2, the music was chosen to provide an emotional layer that complements the structural narrative of the buildings, fostering a deeper connection between the visitor and the space.
Three Spaces, Three Sonic Stories
Visitors looking to experience this synesthesia of sound and sight should prioritise three distinct festival locations. Each site offers a different perspective on the Lithuanian architectural identity.
First is the Composers’ Union House, a masterpiece of late-modernist architecture located in the Žvėrynas district. The installation here will be situated in the central hall, where the building’s unique acoustic properties will be paired with objects created specifically for the project. The music will be played from vinyl records, nodding to the building’s history as a hub for musical creation and intellectual exchange.
In the Piromontas district, the festival moves from the institutional to the intimate. A recently revitalised apartment will serve as a living gallery. Here, the sound installation is designed to feel like a natural part of a lived-in home. Visitors will hear music drifting from a turntable, as if they have stepped into a private moment of a resident’s daily life, highlighting how sound transforms a house into a home.
Finally, the Lojoteka Educational Media Centre offers a more technical perspective. The installation will be housed within its sound recording studio, allowing visitors to see the “engine room” of audio creation. This space emphasizes the modern home as a place of creativity and digital expression, where the boundaries between work, play, and residence often blur.
Defining Home Through Sound and Connection
The festival’s organisers suggest that the modern sense of home is increasingly tied to our digital lives. In an era where we listen to music, work, and communicate through the internet, the “sound” of a home has changed. By integrating these elements into the architectural tours, Open House Vilnius aims to show that a city is not just a collection of buildings, but a network of shared experiences and rituals.
For the UK traveller or architecture enthusiast, this festival offers a unique opportunity to see Vilnius through a local lens. While the city is famous for its UNESCO-listed Old Town, the Open House programme highlights the layers of history that followed, from the bold experiments of the 1970s to the contemporary renovations of today.
The full festival programme includes dozens of buildings across the city, most of which are free to enter during the event weekend. While the sound installations are a highlight of the 10th-anniversary celebrations, they serve as a gateway to a wider exploration of how Vilnius continues to reinvent itself. For those unable to attend in person, the visual accompaniment to the festival’s soundtrack—the music video for “Pasaulis Tavo”—is scheduled for release on May 18, offering a digital window into the atmosphere of the Lithuanian capital.
Source: ELTA
