Preserving the past, fighting erasure

In recent years, Russia has systematically dismantled the institutions that preserve histories and memories that challenge the official state narrative. This evening, together with memory studies scholars, former Soviet dissidents, and artists, we explore the mechanisms and motivations behind both erasure and remembrance. How can the past be preserved when a regime seeks to suppress it? How do we remember collectively against all odds, and why does that matter?

The systematic erasure of memory has become a defining feature of Russia’s political landscape. The past year alone has provided striking examples of this alarming trend. 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 organisations dedicated to documenting state violence and preserving historical memory, was labelled an extremist organisation. Neither was punished for promoting violence, but for remembering it.

The exhibition Artists Against the Kremlin and its new edition, Memory Remains, is on view at De Balie from 14 August, is itself an act of remembrance. Through the work of artists forced into exile, silenced, or persecuted, it preserves the memory of resistance and ensures it remains part of our shared history. The curators and participating artists refuse to forget—and they refuse silence, often at great personal cost, risking their freedom and, in some cases, their lives.