Lullaby 5
site-specific installation, two-channel video
2024

​The work was created for the exhibition Sense of Safety at the Ermilov Center in Kharkiv, Ukraine, located just 30 km from the Russian border. The Ermilov Center holds the status of an official bomb shelter, making it one of the safest places in the city during the war. 

 

The object blocks the staircase, yet it still allows people to move between the different levels of the space.
In this new arrangement, a small gap opens between the floor and the object — a place where a person can fit. This tight, hidden corner can remind one of children’s makeshift shelters, built to create a sense of safety and control. At the same time, being inside may bring other feelings: the low ceiling, the weight pressing from above, and the sound of footsteps overhead can create a sense of anxiety, danger, or confinement. From within, the sound of a video can be heard, but it becomes visible only when lying down inside the structure.

 

Despite these shifting associations, engagement with the work is ultimately guided by curiosity and the body’s own response — a gesture that, in itself, testifies to safety and trust.