Bombings could be heard in the distance, but that didn't stop a few Kharkiv residents from entering the Yermilov Art Center. Not to take refuge, even though the underground space beneath Karazin National University, one of Ukraine's largest, offers ideal shelter from the daily attacks on the eastern city. They were there to visit an exhibition by Pavlo Makov, a local artist who is very popular in the country.

Visiting a museum at a time like this may seem absurd, especially as attacks have been an almost daily occurrence since May 11. On Saturday, May 25, 16 people were killed and dozens wounded, according to a provisional toll from the regional authorities, after the Russian army attacked a hardware hypermarket in the suburbs in broad daylight. But life goes on, and for the people of Kharkiv, the museum represents a breath of fresh air in the midst of chaos. "It's essential to maintain a place where people can come together to discuss and reflect," explained Natalia Ivanova, the museum's director.

But for the staff, welcoming visitors is far from easy. On this May 17, Taissia Krivko has a tense smile and a tired face. The 18-year-old divides her time between greeting the few curious visitors and studying for her second-year psychology exams. She constantly puffs on an e-cigarette. The previous night was particularly restless, disrupted by numerous explosions. "I just couldn't sleep," she said with a weary look.

'Artists are afraid to come here'

Faced with the constant danger, Krivko ended up buying an inflatable mattress so she could sleep in the center's basement in case massive bombardments prevented her from returning to her apartment. The space has everything you need to live, with the exception of a shower. "But we have a fountain," jokes 20-year-old Yelizaveta Koval, Krivko's best friend and colleague, referring to the centerpiece of Pavlo Makov's exhibition, "Fountain of Exhaustion", displayed at the Venice Biennale in 2022.

"We started thinking about this exhibition in the first weeks of the war when Makov was here in the shelter," said Ivanova, director of the center since it opened in 2012, with a burst of laughter. At the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, as bombs rained down on Kharkiv, the space named after one of the figures of the Ukrainian avant-garde, Vasyl Yermylov (1894-1968), served as a refuge for many artists. A few weeks later, the water and electricity were finally cut off and the center closed its doors until spring 2022.

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