Revolving Red Monuments is an interactive augmented reality sculpture garden exploring the history and future of Soviet monuments in Eastern Europe. Co-created by artist Meredith Drum and Creative Technologist Nikita Shokhov with eight Bulgarian artists. The work combines 3D virtual sculptures with poems about war.

Please download the app here on an iOS device: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/r-r-m/id6736486509

The app invites the viewer to explore nine three-dimensional virtual sculptures made for the project by Bulgarian visual artists Albena Baeva, Eva Davidova, Slava Savova, Dessislava Terzieva, Martin Atanasov, Rositsa Getsova, Elena Kaludova, and Kalin Serapionov as they listen to poems about the impacts of war by Wisława Szymborska, Zhivka Baltadzhieva, Paul Celan, Ilya Kaminsky, Denise Levertov, Amit Majmudar, Du Fu, and Bai Juyi.

The experience changes each time the app is opened; the mechanics shuffle the order that the sculptures appear as well as the combination of poems and sculptures. Drum included this variation to remove the viewer’s ability to control and predict, as a reflection on her feeling of powerlessness in relation to global events. Despite this feeling, and out of compassion and respect for vulnerable citizens trapped by war, she is compelled to continue provoking and questioning.

What is the meaning of these old monuments when considering the balance of power between Russia and countries of the former U.S.S.R. and the Eastern Bloc? And for Western Europe and the United States? How do pro-authoritarian, pro-Russian, right-wing figures view Soviet monuments now, especially those who revere Putin, a former KGB officer? In the 20th Century, Soviet imagery was used by leftist activists in the U.S. to symbolize workers’ rights and social programs that benefit the poor. Putin’s autocratic behavior, oppressive policies (particularly toward LGBTQ+ communities), violent punishment of his critics, and invasion of Ukraine have rendered soviet symbols unusable for the American left. Considering these divergent perspectives, might Soviet monuments be altered to reflect the many contradictions and shifts in our political and social zeitgeist? 

With Revolving Red Monuments, she invites artists to reframe old Soviet monuments with mutable, flexible, and playful media.

Revolving Red Monuments was made between 2022 and 2024 and supported by a CEC ArtsLink Art Prospect Residency in Bulgaria in 2022 as well as by Maria Vassileva, Structura Gallery, ICA-Sofia, and the College of Architecture, Arts and Design at Virginia Tech.