Nocturnal Walkthroughs: Perfect Explosion Or I Stop When It Gets Too Loud

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary present the second edition of their open call for nocturnal walkthroughs, this time accompanying Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk’s Pedagogies of War. These evening visits offer a new way to approach the exhibition, inviting audiences to engage with the artworks in an intimate, immersive setting where dialogue, contemplation, and shared experience take center stage.

Perfect Explosion or I Stop When It Gets Too Loud is a listening performance based on a sound archive of missiles, artillery, and drone strikes in Ukrainian cities collected by Ihor Babaiev since 2022. Daria Zhuravel takes on the role of a fictional archivist who guides the audience through a collective listening session, where personal reflections fill the intervals between the sounds of war. The work turns spectators into active participants and shows that no archive is neutral: every recording is shaped by a body, a moment, and a choice. Without images and focused on repetition and uncertainty, the performance reflects life in Ukraine today: an existence defined by constant tension and unpredictability.

Daria Zhuravel is a Ukrainian filmmaker and artist with a BA in performing arts. Working across hybrid formats, her practice explores vulnerability, the experience of time, and the fluid boundaries between documentary and fiction. She has participated in international programs such as the Biennale College Blend (Italy), the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts (Austria), the Visual Anthropology Center (Serbia), and the Caucasus Film Residency (Georgia).

Ihor Babaiev is a Ukrainian multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker based in Kyiv. His practice brings together film, sound, and archival materials to explore themes such as memory, identity, and processes of decolonization. His films have been screened at international festivals, including the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France), Interfilm Berlin (Germany), and the Vilnius International Film Festival (Lithuania), and have received awards at leading Ukrainian film festivals.

Date and time: June 13, 2026, 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm

Location: Exhibition space, Floor -1, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Registration: Through this link on Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza´s website

Access: Free. Prior registration required

Recommended age: All ages. Groups of 25 visitors.

Language: English