Recommendation from Kyiv Independent: Open World (Patreon)

Dear community members, 

My name is Daria Kolos (or as you may know, Daria Kotielnikova previously). I've been working at the Kyiv Independent as a digital marketing manager for more than two years. 

Last weekend I visited a new exhibition in Kyiv called "Joy" ("Radist" in Ukrainian). One installation touched my heart so deeply that I now want to tell everyone about it. 

It's a story that will make you laugh and cry at the same time.

The two-channel video projection "Open World" by Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei, highlights Yaroslav, a teenager from Zaporizhzhia. 

As the front line moved closer to the city, Yaroslav had to evacuate and move abroad. Like many Ukrainians, the boy misses his home, and the idea of the project was to give him the opportunity to visit Zaporizhzhia virtually and show the pain of young Ukrainians. The boy looks at his city using a robotic dog that he operates remotely from Poland.

"The work explores how children forced to leave their homeland maintain an emotional bond with it, and how technology, both a tool of war, reshapes their sense of belonging and resilience," the video's authors write on the project's page. 

One of the locations in the video is Yaroslav's school. Completely abandoned in 2023, the school remains frozen in time. The boy notes the sign on the board that he drew with his classmates for Teacher's Day, his favorite couch, and his teachers' office. 

When I was a journalist, I visited places like these — where time seemed to freeze before life changed forever. You notice someone's PE uniform, a forgotten textbook, or the date on the chalkboard — all signs of when life was last seen there. Like a reminder that it used to be normal. It reminds you of everything that was lost.In the video, Yaroslav jokes and tells stories about his hometown, describing every detail with such warmth. It’s almost like he is trying to remember how it was before the war. I left Kherson, my hometown, in 2022, and this feeling is all too familiar to me. You find yourself trying to convince yourself that it was real at all. 

The video ends at Yaroslav’s parents' home with his mom.  She asks the boy if he misses home, and he says that, now that he's visited it virtually, not that much, but they both know it’s a lie. 

"Open World" is an important project because it shows not just another story from 2022, but also how the front line kept moving toward Zaporizhzhia, forcing locals to flee their hometown. That the war didn’t freeze. As of today, Russian forces are approximately 25 kilometers from Zaporizhzhia, and in 2025, first-person view drones began reaching the city. 

I don't know when — or if — either of us will go back to our hometowns. But I'm glad someone thought to give him that walk through his city, even if only through a screen.

If you would like to watch this project, you can follow Yarema Malashchuk and Roman Khimei's installation at the exhibition.