Automaton & Pig

Automaton & Pig
Originally uploaded by skitster.

So we arrive at the Museum of Estonian Music in Tallinn while we were there in July 2005. We just want to learn about, and perhaps hear, some Estonian music.

We’re asked if we want a “musical guide” while we’re going round and, thinking that we’d get a CD with a commentary linked to numbers on exhibits.

After climbing the three flights of stairs (viewing some fantastic Estonian cabaret posters from the 1940’s on the way) we find that there’s a little old lady who showed us round the exhibits, invited us to play some of the grand piano’s and cranked up the musical boxes when requested. These included this thing, an automaton with a pig on its lap.

While running, the waistcoat rose up and down to suggest breathing and the pig looked at its master, out to the viewer, that back to its master. Possibly strange and beautiful, possibly scary at hell.