In carrying out this project, it is planned to use the port waters near the Noass gallery and, with the placement of the artwork, to attract a wide audience not only to the gallery and the object, but contemporary art as well. With a pop-art-style shtick and provocation, the object floating on the river will expand the audience’s notions about the manifestations of contemporary art. The noun after which the project is named, namely a bobber, is an important part of a fisher’s main tool, the fishing rod. The fisher is waiting for a signal from the bobber. The bobber is waiting for someone to take the bait. In the same way, the artist is waiting for the audience to take the bait. In what way will that come to pass, and how will the bobber signal the occurrence? Content-wise, the work depicts, paradoxically, the relationship between the artist and the public in our country. A truly creative person, just like an ice fisher, is characterized by determination, patience, persistence and courage. Public attitudes towards artists and ice fishers are, first and foremost, dominated by incomprehension, doubt over the usefulness of their actions, as well as irony and negativity. With this work, the artist wants to oppose the social system turning people into consumers and taking away their right to a utopia, even though its presence in our lives is absolutely essential. Much the same way, Rīga, in its anniversary year, needs a block of ice floating on the river with an ice fisher sitting on it during the hottest months of the summer. If for nothing else, then for a better understanding of what it is that constitutes reality for each of us.

- Text by Iveta Laure, concept author and project coordinator

Kirils Panteļejevs (1969) is an artist who has systematically expanded the means of expression available in his creative practice, starting from figurative sculpture to performance, sound installations and interactive environmental objects. He graduated from the Sculpture Department at the Art Academy of Latvia in 1994, and he has supplemented his training at Humboldt State University in California, the US. He is currently an associate professor at the Art Academy of Latvia.