Aurora Borealis

Realized: 05.06—09.08.2026 The Living Art Museum, Reykjavik, Islandia

wood, size 2,60 x 22,85 m

Open Group – Yuriy Biley, Anton Varga, Pavlo Kovach

The work Aurora Borealis directly references Ukrainians' experiences and the realities of daily life during wartime. It is an immersive installation presented in countries that are not currently affected by armed conflict, but which can serve as a space for confronting the experience of threat and protection. During wartime, safety guidelines are established, people share information, and they learn to react and protect one another. Knowledge of survival becomes a common language and a form of solidarity. It is not only human life that is protected, but also places associated with memory and heritage—museums, monuments, buildings, and collections. Aurora Borealis employs one of the simplest methods of securing museums during shelling and bombing: covering windows with found and used boards or panels. This act of protection becomes a sign of care, but also a testament to the constant threat.
Blocking the sunlight in the spaces where it usually belongs reshapes the overall internal architecture and restructures our expectations towards the known and familiar. The installation at Marshall House in Reykjavik is intended to evoke the experience of being in a place under special protection. The installation, functioning today as a safe space, remains an instruction and a skill that seem unnecessary until a real unknown danger arises.

Text by — Marta Czyż

Photo by — Yuriy Biley

photo by — Julie Sjöfn Gasiglia

Sketch by — Yuriy Biley