When the Shores Disappear

An exhibition resulting from a research laboratory dedicated to memory, organized by Debarkader-30 and artist-curator Yulia Pavlova

A shore is a boundary between land and water, the solid and the fluid, the stable and the ever-changing. When a shore disappears, these boundaries dissolve. Memory functions in much the same way: at first it appears clear and fixed, yet over time it blurs, becoming part of something larger, though no longer entirely recognizable.

When the Shores Disappear is the outcome of an artistic research laboratory exploring the phenomenon of memory, held at Debarkader-30 in early 2025 and led by Yulia Pavlova.

One of the laboratory’s key objectives was to help participants define their individual research trajectories and articulate their own relationship to the subject. Identifying critical questions, conceptualizing personal positions, and selecting appropriate visual forms became the foundation for the artistic statements presented in the exhibition.

The exhibition brings together artistic reflections on personal, collective, cultural, and spatial memory, treating memory as a living and evolving process. The participating artists sought visual languages capable of capturing what is inherently elusive. The disappearance of the shore—the exhibition’s central metaphor—is not understood here solely as a tragic act of loss. Rather, it signifies transition and a shift in perspective. Memory ceases to be something private and enclosed; instead, it becomes a shared environment where experiences, histories, and voices intersect.

Artists: Danil Akhmetshin, Denis Volkov, Miläwşä Gafurova, Zhanna Zhuravleva, Elvira Karpova, Dmitry Kurkin, Lilit Matevosyan, Dmitry Makhov, Ekaterina Petrova, Kseniya Sadovski, Lyuba Sautina, Alexey Starkov, and Evgeniya Shilova.

Curators: Yulia Pavlova, Zulfiya Ilkaeva

Producer: Yulia Akhmetzyanova

Project Manager: Anastasia Plekhanova

Design: Daria Rodionova, Arina Stulovskaya, Polina Glazyrina

Tatar-Language Texts: Miläwşä Gafurova

Technical Team: Basyyr Ganiev, Ilya Kolesnikov

Memory Writing Laboratory

Author: Yulia Pavlova

Memory Writing is a research-based laboratory dedicated to memory, everyday life, and personal history. Throughout the program, participants explored various approaches to understanding and categorizing memory, methods of its preservation and reconstruction, and the ways contemporary artists engage with these themes in their practices.

Participants were selected through an open call. The laboratory received 225 applications from different cities and countries, demonstrating a strong interest in memory, personal archives, and autobiographical approaches within contemporary art.

Hosted by Debarkader-30, the laboratory consisted of four online sessions with accompanying assignments and a final in-person meeting. During the program, participants worked with their own archives, diaries, and memories, studied artistic projects rooted in personal experience, and gradually developed individual research projects.

The outcome of the laboratory was the creation of an artist’s zine, through which each participant articulated their own exploration of memory and personal history.