DELO TRUBĀ

Alus Bārs, Avotu iela 47, Rīga

On Thursday, April 30, artist Pjotrs Kirjuša installed his 2 works dedicated to Alus bārs ("Beer Bar" in Latvian) in its rare smoking room.

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The title of the event, Delo Trubā (literally, “the situation is a pipe”), comes from a Russian idiom meaning “we’re in serious trouble” or “the situation is hopeless,” also used in Latvian Soviet-era slang.

Installed in the smoke-filled room of a 1990s-style bar, among works by unknown artists and reproductions of well-known authors, the new pieces play with the literal presence of the ventilation pipe, evoking failure, absurdity, and a sense of impending doom.

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“Everything here feels as though it has grown on its own. It serves not only the needs of drinking and conversation, but also some wider kind of communal functioning — a local halt, a temporary suspension of something larger altogether.”

“Two small rooms. Just inside the entrance, a counter; to the left, two cramped little tables. They probably used to allow smoking there, and on the right as well: four more tables and a gap behind the scenes—a back room, the toilet. A place like any other. Not the last of its kind in the neighborhood, though there aren't many left. The others have, more or less, started putting on airs, chasing whatever style happens to be fashionable.”

(translated from Russian by ChatGPT)

Andrej Levkin
Prose writer, editor, and journalist
on Alus bārs in his story "Sprenkstrasse + хвост кота G.”

video by Pjotrs Kirjuša

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Opening Hours
Monday–Saturday: 12:00–late
Sunday: Closed

Just a few days after the lively event, one of Pjotrs' works vanished, while another was relocated to centre stage—beside the TV set by the bar.