Displacements and Torrents: Where the Dnipro and the Elbe Meet

“Displacements and Torrents: Where the Dnipro and the Elbe Meet” examines the role of artists from so-called “(post)socialist” countries in Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and beyond, in the French cultural landscape, against the backdrop of serious past and present events that lead to the forced displacement of humans and non-humans—animals, plants, material objects—along with cultural practices and creative techniques. The curators invite audiences to imagine a place where the waters of the Dnipro and the Elbe rivers, which flow through the cities of Dnipro in Ukraine and Ústí nad Labem in the Czech Republic respectively, merge into a tumultuous current. Like the two rivers that metaphorically come together, the exhibition intertwines multiple narrative threads and different temporalities: the Cold War period, the post-socialist transition, and the contemporary era, where unresolved issues from the past resurface.

Displacements and Torrents – Where the Dnipro and the Elbe Meet highlights the constant mobility of communities and artists that began in the 1970s between these regions, as well as with France, and explores their trajectories in relation to their artistic practices and personal histories. It offers an intergenerational perspective that relies, among other things, on works from the collection of the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (Cnap), several of which were created by former and current residents of the Cité internationale des arts.

Through artworks, artistic practices, and archival documents, the exhibition sheds light, using a decolonial and situated approach, on the power relations in the region and their resonance in France. Anchored in a space-time marked by Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and the changes it brings, it addresses the continuity of colonialism worldwide: Who is subjected to displacement or confined to a place? Who has the right to mobility, and who decides it? What role does cultural diplomacy play in this movement? And finally, what power dynamics influence the representation of “(post)-socialist” regions in France and Western countries?

Curated by: Sasha Baydal and Nataša Petrešin-Bachelez

With the artists: Louisa Babari, Abel Barroso, Maja Bajević et Emanuel Licha, Commercial public art (Svitlanka Konoplyova et Borys Medvediev), DAVRA Collective (Valeriya Kim, Dona Kulmatova, Zumrad Mirzalieva et Saodat Ismailova), Robert Gabris, Danylo Halkin, Petrit Halilaj, Huai-Kuei Song (Madame Song), Ilya Kabakov, Nikolay Karabinovych, Zdena Kolečková, László Méhes, Sandra Muteteri Heremans, Halyna Neledva, Nonument Group (Neja Tomšič, Martin Bricelj Baraga, Nika Grabar et Miloš Kosec), Minh Thắng Phạm, Vincent Rumahloine, Araks Sahakyan and Rebecca Topakian, Souli Seferov, Masha Svyatogor, Maryn Varbanov, Evita Vasiljeva

With contributions by: Centre national des arts plastiques (Cnap), Fonds d’archive de la Cité internationale des arts, Archives de la ville d’Ústí nad Labem, Vít Havránek, Bodgan Konopka, Stoian Koujumdjiev, Wanda Mihuleac, Radu Stoica, Vladimir Tverdokhlebov