The Béton Center for Visual Culture presents the exhibition "Remember! Forever?", which demonstrates unique works of photographers from the second half of the nineteenth century to the present day: PA Rishbur, K. Bulla, I. Alexandrov, N. Kuleshov, L. Lazarev, S. Shimanskiy, S. Borisov, I. Mukhin and others. In addition to photographs the exhibition includes sculptures of G. Bruskin. Most of his works are on public display for the first time.

The problem of preservation of artifacts of history and art, at first sight, may seem secondary to the objectives of the struggle of man as a species for their existence. However, a more thoughtful consideration of the relevant topic reveals that this is not the case.

The creation of monuments, just as their destruction, has been of great symbolic importance for several millennia of human history. After all, the creation of a monument is a literal materialization and affirmation of a certain concept of life, ideology and worldview, confirmation of the fact of accumulated knowledge, which should be used as an important contribution and an edifying lesson for future generations. In contrast, the destruction of a monument is an act of rejection of the concepts and ideologies involved, as is the concomitant denial of the value of the lessons of the past. The destruction of a symbol, whatever it may be, is in any case a step backward for humanity into the abyss of existential catastrophie, biological fear and limited stupidity as the opposites for a developed consciousness.

Destruction, especially in its physical form, is only a vivid confirmation of the inability to provide one's own viable alternative to an already existing symbol that can be viewed as a worthy alternative for the attention and respect of the wider society, and a confirmation of the power of the symbol being destroyed, before which the destroyer experiences a primitive animal fear.