The local history museum of Kherson, which was looted by the Russian occupying forces between October 24 and 26, 2022, was once home to the largest and oldest collection of antiquities in southern Ukraine. The museum’s collection consisted of 173,000 objects spanning 7,000 years, from Scythian gold to weapons from the Second World War. Yarema Malashchuk and Rōman Khimey produced Explosions Near the Museum, one of their contributions to the kyiv '23biennial, in this museum, which is less than two kilometers from Russian-occupied territory. The film draws attention to empty pedestals and display cases, and the exhibits that were once on display here – paintings, ancient artifacts, religious artifacts, religious icons and historical documents of shared Russian and Ukrainian history. In the background of the video, shell and rocket impacts can be heard, which were recorded on site on December 12, 2022.
