MEREDITH DRUM

Artist’s Statement About the Work

R.R.M. Revolving Red Monuments

R.R.M. Revolving Red Monuments is a collaboration between an international group of artists including American Meredith Drum, Russian-American Nikita Shokhov, and Bulgarians Albena Baeva, Eva Davidova, Slava Savova, Dessislava Terzieva, Martin Atanasov, Rositsa Getsova, Elena Kaludova, and Kalin Serapionov. The works in this collaboration reflect on and re-evaluate Cold War-era monuments in Bulgaria and the way in which history repeats itself by producing new generations of corrupt political leaders intent on dismantling democratic institutions, civil rights, and social and cultural programs. R.R.M. does not argue for or against removing these monuments. The intent is to explore the historical and future impact of this visual culture and add to it with collaboratively made media.

R.R.M. takes form as augmented reality and can be considered virtual graffiti that adds to the physical graffiti that covers these mostly abandoned Bulgarian monuments. To experience it, a participant opens the R.R.M. app on a mobile device. Through the device’s camera they see four-dimensional virtual sculptures, which were made in collaboration with the Bulgarian artists. The sculptures are four dimensional as they change as they move and as the participant moves through and around them. As the virtual sculptures animate, a participant hears the sound of the artists reading poems about war by writers Wisława Szymborska, Zhivka Baltadzhieva, Paul Celan, Ilya Kaminsky, Denise Levertov, Amit Majmudar, Du Fu, and Bai Juyi. The soundtrack also includes music composed for R.R.M. by Andrea Williams.

In the following documentation, one can see R.R.M. in action in front of several Bulgarian Cold-War era monuments. The structures are the Buzludzha Memorial House in the mountains of central Bulgaria, the Monument to the Bulgarian-Soviet Friendship in Varna, the Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria in Shumen, the Brotherly Mound in Plovdiv, and several locations in Sofia including the Bells Monument, the Museum of Art from the Socialist Period, the National Palace of Culture, and the Soviet Army Monument (this last is being removed; the images show construction apparatus around the monument).

VIRTUAL SCULPTURES

"Rodina the Pig" by Albena Baeva depicts a golden pig with a woman’s head, which references one of many schemes rampant during the privatization of Bulgaria after 1990, when millions in public funds were stolen by corrupt officials. Rodina is the name of Bulgarian’s national publisher of The Worker’s Case and other newspapers from the Socialist period. In 2001, Rodina’s half-built new building was privatized and acquired by a corrupt woman and her son Peevski. The building was never finished; the construction project was like many others. It was used to siphon millions of dollars in public funds into private hands. For about 20 years Peevski owned and controlled nearly 80% of Bulgaria’s media. Though he was forced to sell these interests in 2021, he remains an active and influential politician.  

"I'm Safe" by Kalin Serapinov is a large black and red sphere that spins and moves slowly up and down. If a participant moves inside the sphere, they will be surrounded by a black interior illuminated only by a virtual red neon text that says: “I’m Safe.” Serapinov borrowed the phrase from social media, a status line that is becoming more and more common as social-political, environmental, and economic catastrophes increase.

"I Love You Very Much" by Elena Kaludova is a 3D scan and motion capture of the artist performing a dance common at Bulgarian weddings while wearing a shirt with text on both sides. “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them”, the front reads in Bulgarian. “Women are afraid that men will kill them”, says the other side in reply. This is a quote from a lecture by Margaret Atwood from 1982, true today as it was then. “I Love You Very Much” critiques society’s failure to end violence against women, particularly in Bulgaria. The AR sculpture points to how this violence is kept invisible as we go about our daily lives.

"Leshoyad's Garden" by Meredith Drum re-imagines the European Black Vulture, the first animal acquired by Prince Ferdinand when he opened Sofia’s Zoo in 1888. The zoo was located in a park in Sofia that was later occupied by the Monument to the Soviet Army. Completed in 1954, this monument was dismantled in 2024. Sofia has re-named the park the Prince’s Garden, a re-naming that seems to be part of the country’s re-branding itself with an emphasis on the imperial at the expense of the socialist history.  

"Horsewoman Appearing Normal" by Eva Davidova depicts an animal shooting itself and conveys alarm about our ongoing ecological and social disasters, possibly leading to human extinction. As a child in Bulgaria, Davidova witnessed the Socialist regime ignore traditional farming practices and impose centralized Soviet methods, including excessive amounts of fertilizer and practices often not suited to the local landscapes. This resulted in significant pollution of the country's air, water, and land. Sadly, the situation only worsened after the fall of the Socialist government as corruption was common during privatization. Only in the last few decades have Bulgarian individuals and communities been able to achieve autonomy and control of their lands and better care for their wilderness and farmland.

"Fountain: Socialist Balneosanatorium" by Slava Savova centers on Socialist community bathhouses with which the government mediated use of the country’s many thermal springs with a focus on occupational therapy to maintain a productive and regulated work force.

"Flag: You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello" by Dessislava Terzieva is based on a physical flag created by Terzieva using inexpensive scarves made in Bulgaria in the 1990s, scarves similar to those worn by her grandmother.  

“Cut Out Study” by Martin Atanasov is an AR adaptation of a photographic collage that is part of Atanasov’s research regarding the experience of gay men in Bulgaria before 1989.  

— Meredith Drum

R.R.M. was produced by Meredith Drum as part of and after her CEC ArtsLink Arts Prospect residency in Sofia in 2022. R.R.M. has received support from Structura Gallery, Maria Vassileva, CEC ArtsLink, Buna Forum for Contemporary Art, and the College of Art and Architecture at Virginia Tech.