Over two months, participants in the Gallery Lab educational program for young people broke down the exhibition project into its components and ultimately created their own based on the Artsvit Gallery`s collection. The main theme was memory as a tool for consciously constructing an image of ourselves, a means of preserving this vision for the future, as well as a river that is not only a witness but also a participant in all events.
Calm waters quietly and monotonously absorb memories into their blue depths for future preservation. This river has seen a lot and will see a lot more. Industrialization and war have left a strong mark: the river is drying up, becoming polluted, river transport has completely disappeared, and you can no longer see the night reflection of city lights or fireworks in the rushing Dnipro.
Sometimes it is scary to think about what awaits us in the future, so we often return to our memories. At such moments, a feeling of nostalgia overwhelms us from head to toe, but dark spots also appear in our memory: uncomfortable or traumatic memories emerge. They cannot be washed away with water, but they can be reinterpreted so that they do not control our lives, do not poison them like mold, which can and must be treated by restoring memories for the sake of the future.
The exhibition offers a dialogue with the past: not to erase the difficult pages of history, not to cleanse it of pain, but to transform it into knowledge. True healing of memory is only possible when we allow ourselves to see it in its entirety — with difficult periods, uncomfortable memories, doubts, and losses. They become a resource: they help us understand the mechanisms of violence, mistakes, and destruction — and give us the opportunity to act differently.
Nature gradually heals wounds. The city lives and breathes, and the river breathes with it in unison. Like a gentle tide, the Dnipro reveals its ancient memory to us, telling the story of past generations. The river returns our memories to us like rainwater, and sometime in the future, it will surely do so again, sharing our joys and sorrows. With new currents and with new us.
WHEN: December 6, 2025, at 4:30 p.m.
WHERE: DCCC Experimental Studio, second floor, 21a Krutogirnyy Uzviz, Dnipro. Entrance through the glass doors on the side of Uspenska Square
FREE ADMISSION
The exhibition “Dnipro: The River of Memory” was created based on the Artsvit Gallery's collection. It is the result of joint work by participants in the Gallery Lab educational program for young people.
Program participants: Anastasia Abramova, Margarita Bozhko, Olena Brekhunenko, Daria Kozlovska, Taisiya Kuzmenko, Ada Leonchenko, Oksana Miroshnyk, Yelyzaveta Orel, Polina Pakhniy, Albina Pryschep, Elvira Rustamova, Anna Chaika, Anna Shermal.
Program created by: Oleksandra Shovkun
Photo: Stanislav Pyvonos
Implemented with the support of the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine, the MC6 Creative Residency and the non-governmental organisation Inshaya Osvita as part of the Cultural Resistance project, which is funded by the Eastern Partnership programme of the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.
