On September 21, 2017, we opened our first urban research Waterfront / Waterline exhibition on the Vasilievsky island. The exposition was located in the shop of the former Sevkabel factory, part of the territory of which was liberated in order to create a cultural and business center with free access to the waterfront. The uniqueness of this place is the open access to the Neva River and the Gulf of Finland, constructivist view of the WHSD (Western High-Speed Diameter) and the water area. This location translates an additional visual "message" and poses the main question of the project — how should the modern city near the water and its embankments look like? how does the proximity of water change the quality of citizens’ everyday life?
It is this question that the artists of the project tried to answer in their works. The exhibition was attended by 13 artists from Russia and Northern Europe. Artists’ techniques ranged from large "industrial" art objects to sound art and complex installations using video projections.
Thanks to such a variety of techniques, the artists were able to explore the theme of water from different angles — urban, environmental, cultural — and create a comprehensive statement, the purpose of which was to attract the attention of citizens to the problems of use of the coastal areas. After all, many cities, and especially St. Petersburg, owe their existence to the very possibility of access to the sea.