Preserving the past, fighting erasure

In recent years, Russia has systematically dismantled institutions that preserve histories and memories challenging the official state narrative. This evening brings together a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, scholars of memory, human rights advocates and artists to explore the mechanisms behind both erasure and remembrance.

How can the past be preserved when a regime seeks to suppress it? Why does collective memory matter? And what role can artists, researchers and civil society play in resisting historical erasure?

The systematic destruction of historical memory has become one of the defining characteristics of contemporary Russia. The past year alone has provided striking examples. The Gulag History Museum in Moscow—one of the country’s most important institutions documenting Soviet political repression—was forced to close. Memorial, one of Russia’s oldest human rights organisations dedicated to documenting state violence and preserving historical memory, was designated an extremist organisation. Neither institution was punished for promoting violence, but for remembering it.

Artists Against the Kremlin: Memory Remains
The exhibition Artists Against the Kremlin: Memory Remains, on view at De Balie from 14 August to 6 September, is itself an act of remembrance. Through the work of artists forced into exile, silenced or persecuted, it preserves stories of resistance and ensures they remain part of our shared history. The participating artists and curators refuse to forget—and refuse silence—often at great personal risk.