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, Elena Kaludova, Kalin Serapionov, and others. The work reevaluates Cold War-era monuments in Bulgaria and critiques generations of corrupt political leaders who dismantle democratic institutions, civil rights, and social programs.
R.R.M. is augmented reality as virtual graffiti against the physical graffiti that covers these mostly abandoned monuments. A participant opens R.R.M. on a mobile device to experience four-dimensional virtual sculptures and a soundscape. As they move through the shifting sculptures, they hear poems about war by Wisława Szymborska, Zhivka Baltadzhieva, Paul Celan, and others set against music by Andrea Williams.
R.R.M. does not argue for or against removing these monuments. The aim is to explore the historical and future impacts of this visual culture and add to it with collaborative, virtual media.
Artists