Ivars Drulle

My home is in the center of the circle.

The work consists of ~150 custom made parts.

Each sunrise is 40 secs long. It represents ~ 3 hours of actual time. The timelapse is filmed throughout the year and there were flowers planted inside the ruins. They bloomed in the summer and died during the first frost.

On each steel plate there is a drawing of the specific house in my neibourghood. Drawing is chemically reacting, it is rusting and slowly merges with the iron background.

POWERING CAMERAS AND ROUTER FROM BATTERY. RECHARGING IT EVERY NIGHT.

PREPARATION. SIGNAL TESTING OF 4 CAMERAS

THIS IS WHERE I WILL SPEND 7 FULL DAYS IN FREEZING TEMPERATURE

FIGURE MAKING IN PROCESS

STOP-MOTION OF A PERFORMANCE DAY. ~40.000 VIEWERS IN TOTAL CAME TO SEE THE SHOW IN 3 DAYS.

RECEIVING “THE BEST ARTIST OF THE SHOW AWARD”.

Click on video

DOCUMENTATION OF BIFORA ( DOUBLE WINDOWS).

Steel legs are dug deep in the sand. After great storms the sand is bulldozed back, the sculpture must remain for many years.

In order to have Belle Epoque feel, the construction was made with countless bolts, like in the age before welding was invented.

at one end the bronze figure of a lady is sitting and listening to the sounds of the sea. She must have just heard something approaching…

Sketch for a location

Preparatory drawing shows influences.

Preparatory drawing.

Cabinet of Folksongs as exhibited during the opening of the New National Library of Latvia

Top left advertisement reads: If you are a girl, out of age and wish to meet knowing, sensitive and uderstanding partner for your first time of making love, who would take care of your well-being, please write.

Advertisiement reads: I am looking for a male to have an orgy, I am burning.

Version 2 instead of dating advertisements, consists of 24 video screens. Everything is silent, but once you open the door, a video with sound starts to play. Every video shows some way of fulfilling various goals and fantsies. (Screenshot from Latvian television)

Once my neighbour Sirmbardis called me into his room and asked if I am interested in something. I felt confused. Seeing that he opened a suitcase, full with mechanic wristwaches, many hundreds, if not a thousand in total. Some of them were working, but most were spare parts. It appeared that besides being a worker in a Soviet collective farm, he used to secretly repair watches in evenings. What was the most striking - he had only 3-4 fingers intact. The rest he lost as a boy, playing with ammunition after the Second World War. Sirmbardis died soon afterwards but I made a work with his watches.

“Woke up at 6:40 a.m., made a coffee, turned on TV and overheard on news that there had been some sort of toxic accident in the port, that endangers the population. At first I didn’t realize that it’s about us”, - events of that thursday morning remembers Janna. Moments later a landlord, seeing her, shouted, “You’re still here, get out immediately, everyone must evacuate!”

Later that day, when the threat of toxic explosion was averted, Kundzinsala peninsula was deserted. Streets were empty. Journalists managed to find only one person, who pretended to be not at home. “They are intimidating us with all sorts of threats, only to get us out of here. But we like everything around here, we’re pleased with everyting, we don’t sense any fumes, and we are not going anywhere”, said the old man.

Victor saw the police driving around while fishing but no one had noticed him.

1965 saw killing of one of the most famous men of Latvia – of inventor, constructor, aviator and explorer who during the first independency of Latvia unparalleled flights to Gambia and Tokyo using the plane of his own construction. His achievements are written down into the history book of the world aviation.

„Let me speak, let me speak!“ are some of the last words Herberts Cukurs managed to say before Mossad, the Israeli secret service, caried out the death penalty. He received a hit of the sledgehammer to his head, which was followed by several bullets into his brain. Cukurs was found three days later in a locked crate. It contained a note, „Those, who never forget.“ Mossad agents enticed the defendant into a rented house and waited for him dressed solely in underwear – so that the clothes don’t get dirty.

During the Nazi occupation Cukurs was affiliated with the notorious Arajs brigade which was involved into mass killing of the Jewish population. He was blamed for taking part in the annihilation of some 30.000 Jews but there are contradictory views to what extent these testimonies are credible.

There are beliefs that he was one of the most active liquidators and beliefs that he has never made a shot.

It is May 1st., 1945, an underground bunker in Berlin.

 Joseph Goebbels, The Nazi propoganda minister, his wife and six children are there.

When late at night children were already asleep, an ampule of poison was put in between their teeth and crushed; it is believed that the mother was present.

Only the oldest daughter had woken up during this process, she must have been fighting, not wanting to crush the ampule.  At least this is what allies concluded when a day later they examined bodies and found damaged jaw and bruises on the face of the oldest daughter Helga.

 Rochus Misch, a radio operator in the bunker, reported that Helga was "crying softly" just before bedtime on that final night and wore a glum expression as her mother brushed her hair and kissed her and her siblings.

The smallest child, four-year-old Heide, turned back to look at Misch, giggling, and teasingly said, "Misch, Misch, du bist ein Fisch," or "Misch, Misch, you are a fish", as her mother led her and her siblings upstairs.

The Oldest daughter

The work is based on a sentence, my dad said in the kitched, while eating a beetroot soup. He said, “How come Ķirsons is doing shitty? That’s because he is not a Jewish, unlike Kargins and Krasovickis !”

Context: a local, Latvian businessman Ķirsons was badly affected during the economic crisis of 2008. At the same time, owners of large bank Kargins and Krasovickis found themselves in great trouble, as well. The state bought their bank, investing hundreds of millions euros, while Ķirsons had to swim to the coast on his own. Conspiracy theory stated that the nationality played the role. This work also shows hidden anti-semitism, that flourishes in private kitchens.

At airports I enjoy watching the way people meet and kiss each other. Sort of Love, Actually narrative. Some happy, some sad. Maybe it’s because grandma used to take me to the railway station in Sigulda. We were sitting and sitting endlessly. I don’t know, why, maybe it’s because she had a painful life experience. For many years she had been waiting for grandpa to return from Gulag. Going to the station, pigeon feeding and trains gliding away - these are my childhood memories. “Someone is going away, someone is staying, but someone feels very sad”, - she used to say. But I am just sitting and listening. And it sticks.

They way of seeing the world. The feeling of being unfulfilled. Sensing love and happiness, but only sensing - maybe this is the most beautiful thing. Longing is more important than being realized.

Detail

LETA news agency,

Wednesday, December 9. (2009)

At the meeting of the Riga Council committee of education, culture and sport estimating the project of the next years budget of department of education, culture and sports, Smits paid attention to the fact that Eur 1400 are planned to be spent on the traditional event of the Log Pulling in Riga city old town on December 21st.

Smits called for the end of the „practicing of the occultism“ and to divert the means to other needs, pointing out that Collegium board of the Christian Parishes objected such a „pagan tradition“ as well.

Councilman pointed out that Latvians have several good traditions but the Log Pulling can be considered „similar tradition as Liv piracy“.

„Let’s stop once and for all pursuing pagan traditions and putting a spell on ourselves“, several months ago at the committee meeting said Smits. Councilman called to give up the Log Pulling because „ by doing that we have pulled ourselves where we are right now“.

A moment ago the Latvian president Kārlis Ulmanis had delivered his speech on the radio. He began with these words: “Citizens! The Soviet army troops have been entering our land since this morning. The government has given its permission which is a result of the existing friendly relationship between Latvia and the Soviet Union.

Therefore, I wish that our people would welcome the incoming army in a friendly manner as well. In the meantime, you have to keep in mind that the military movement cannot be disturbed, and you can support it by limiting any excessive curiosity and avoiding violations.”

His short speech was concluded with these words:

“My heart is with you all and I feel your friendly heartbeats in front of me. This is how we shall move forward and carry out our duties. I will remain in my position and you in yours.”

By dissolving the parliament in 1934, Ulmanis took full responsibility in his own hands. In the evening of June 17, he knew that by carrying out his decision he is fully responsible for Latvia’s future.

Five weeks later Ulmains departed Latvia and two years later died in a prison hospital in Turkmen SSR.

Materials: dental plaster, nitro-paint, plywood

2014

In 1964, the 15 year old talented mathematician Ilya Rips was admitted into the University of Latvia without taking any entrance exams. Five years later, in April 13, 1969 he headed to the Freedom Monument, set himself on fire and raised a placard that read (in Russian): “Я протестую против оккупации Чехословакии.” (I am protesting against the occupation of Czechoslovakia.)

A moment later the fire was put out, the protester got arrested and taken to corresponding institutions.

After his arrest Ilya spent the next two years in the Psychiatric Hospital of Riga where he continued his mathematical studies from books provided by his friends and parents.

In 1971 Ilya and his family managed to leave for Israel and because the fire was put out, the world of mathematics has recognized him as one of the most brilliant scientists who is known not only for his research in geometric and hyperbolic group theories, but also for the “Bible Code” research. In this theoretical framework, hidden messages are sought and found in sacred texts using mathematical methods.

Materials: dental plaster, nitro-paint, plywood

2014

This morning Andrejs Ručs, the chairman of Riga’s northern district’s (Vidzemes Priekšpilsēta) committee together with national guards arrived at the locations managed by the Russian army in the area of Krustbaznīca Street, regarding the uncertainty about the status of some residential buildings used by the Russian army. During their disagreement A. Ručs ordered his representatives to handcuff two generals, one of them being the assistant of Russian Northwest army’s commander, and convey them to the Latvian-Russian border. With the guards’ supervision they were seated in a car and driven away in an unknown direction. At the same time, Ručs gave an order to oppose anyone, even Latvian security units with weapons if they tried the release the arrested men.

The mind-boggling news about this incident reached the Latvian government in the midst of the National Security Council meeting. It was interrupted. The police and border guards dashed out to find the kidnapped generals. Ručs’ refusal to reveal the direction in which the captives were taken and the car’s plate number made the situation even more complex.

On January 27, 1994, the Interior Minister of Latvia while clarifying this situation said: “Due to the illegal arrest of both generals, Russia had announced combat readiness within a couple of hours, and in fact, their military interference might have liquidated the national independence of the Latvian Republic. Only immediate actions made by Latvian top officials, in direct contact with the government of the Russian Federation, neutralized any prospective negative consequences.

Materials: dental plaster, nitro-paint, plywood

2014