Walk to Bolderāja
Photodocumentation, 1980
The cycles of walks to Bolderāja began on the night of November 30th in 1980, when three friends Hardijs Lediņš, Juris Boiko and Imants Žodžiks met. The processions took place every year from 1980 to 1987 as well as in 2002 (the participants changed but the conditions did not). The prerequisite of the walk is to taste the roughness of the process, when experiencing changes on the road: the change between light and dark, the change between the city and countryside and industrial areas, the changes of seasons, each year going in a different month and doing documentation with different type of media. The photos of the walk are taken by the camera of Hardijs, we call it ‘Čaika’. The change of light and dark – the moment of the rising sun is caught through a petroleum lamp in the hands of Mediņš. This picture is given to friends as a New Year’s greeting. There is an album recorded at Lediņš’es place after the walk. It is called ‘Bolderājas Stils (The Style of Bolderāja) (©Seque; 1982)’. We sing the songs when going together in the walks of Bolderāja.
Participants: Hardijs Lediņš, Juris Boiko, Imants Žodžiks.
Photo and video animation: Imants Žodžiks.
Artists' Bios:
Imants Žodžiks has studied architecture from 1973 to 1979. During the 70ies he has studied photography at the Riga station of Young technicians. He has actively participated in the action art in many different places together with his colleague Hardijs Lediņš (1955–2004) and stage designer Leonards Langanovskis (1955) since 1980. He has been a member of the annual action ‘Gājiens uz Bolderāju (The Walk to Bolderāja); Action No.4 or ‘Transfer / Moving’ (1983), ‘The Line in Kurzeme’ (1983), ‘The Line in Jūrmala’ (1983). In the end of 80ies the artist participated in many art actions and performances together with L. Laganovskis, H. Lediņš, A. Sparāns, M. Steķis, I. Černovs, J. Boiko and ‘NSRD - Nebijušu sajūtu darbnīca (The Workshop of Unprecedented Feelings)’. Imants Žodžiks has participated in the exhibition ‘Riga – Lettische Avantgarde’ together with NSRD in West Berlin, Kiel and Bremen in 1988 and 1999.
Hardijs Lediņš (1955-2004) studied at the Faculty of Architecture of Riga Polytechnical Institute from 1973 to 1979. During the 1970s he was involved in absurdism, experimental music (underground home recording studio “Seque”) and action art together with artist Juris Boiko (1954-2002), also involving architect Imants Žodžiks (1955) and set designer Leonards Laganovksis (1955). In 1982 together with Juris Boiko he formed The Restoration Workshop of Unprecedented Feelings (NSRD) and went on to record several albums, develop performances, actions, video installations and video art as well as exhibition concepts in collaboration with various musicians and artists. In 1988 and 1989 together with the NSRD he participated in the exhibition „Riga – Lettische Avantgarde” (Riga – Latvian Avantgarde) in West Berlin, Kiel and Bremen.
In 1985 Juris Boiko graduated from the Polygraphic Technical Innovation University of Latvia as an artist – designer. During the 1970s he was involved in literature and experimental music together with Hardijs Lediņš and in the 1980s – action art. He developed performances and their underlying concepts, actions and video art; composed music and wrote lyrics. He participated in the concert-performances of the NSRD and was the author of concepts behind several exhibitions such as “Pirmā Aptuvenās mākslas izstāde” (The First Approximate Art Exhibition). “TRAKL” (Bioko’s rendering of George Trakl’s poetry) was published in 1992 and “Dziesmas un dzejas” (Songs And Poems) - a poetry collection of selected poems and lyrics by Boiko in 2000.