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Illia Petrov and Dmytro Erlikh
Place of Existence is an installation composed of two interconnected parts—two spatial and sonic environments, each with its own acoustic character and visual language. The left and right sections present two distinct ways of unfolding the same idea. One leans toward restraint, silence, and inward contemplation, while the other embraces a more open, luminous, and varied sonic expression. For this exhibition, we have chosen the left section because we believe it more clearly articulates the exhibition’s concept and draws attention to quieter, more delicate, and vulnerable states of perception.
The sound component of the left section is built around two objects with contrasting sonic textures. The first produces a steady, sustained tone: a bow pressed against a string maintains a sound that remains constant over time. The second operates differently. A silicone tube mounted on a motor rotates and intermittently strikes a string, generating unpredictable rhythms, overtones, and pauses that never repeat in exactly the same way.
The visual component depicts a landscape with a black sky and dense, richly textured earth. It evokes a space stripped of its familiar atmosphere, as though the air itself had disappeared. In dialogue with the sound, the work invites a state of attentive listening and quiet observation, drawing awareness to time and to the fragile balance between permanence and change.
Petrov | Erlikh is the artistic duo of Illia Petrov and Dmytro Erlikh, whose interdisciplinary practice spans visual art, sound installations, and sound architecture as interconnected media.
Their practice explores chance processes, transitional states, and the relationship between humans and a deconstructed reality. By translating the visual chaos and “noise” of contemporary culture into physical objects, the duo creates immersive environments where sound is liberated from rigid composition and evolves according to the principles of self-organizing systems.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 Place of Existence, Korsaks’ Museum of Contemporary Ukrainian Art, Lutsk, Ukraine
2025 Place of Existence, Independent Art Space on Italiiska 19, Odesa, Ukraine
2024 Prediction Doesn’t Matter, Independent Art Space on Italiiska 19, Odesa, Ukraine
2024 Ruin Porn: Terminus, Independent Art Space on Italiiska 19, Odesa, Ukraine
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 Ode to Sonya, Odesa Museum of Modern Art, Odesa, Ukraine
2025 Piano Ukraine and Others – participatory performance, Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre, Kyiv, Ukraine
2025 Calypso’s Mirages: Dmytro Dulfan Captured by the Depths, Odesa Museum of Modern Art, Odesa, Ukraine
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Dmytro Erlikh is an artist and curator. He was born on 1 February 1989 in Odesa, Ukraine. In 2013, he received a Bachelor’s degree in Design from the International Humanities University. In 2011, he graduated from the M. B. Grekov Odesa Art College, Department of Artistic Design. Since 2013, he has been working in the field of contemporary art across painting, drawing, installation, and sculpture.
Illia Petrov is a sound installation artist and sound engineer. He was born on 26 May 1984 in Odesa, Ukraine. In 2011, he graduated from the I. K. Karpenko-Kary Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television, Department of Sound Engineering. From 2003 to 2006, he studied at the A. V. Nezhdanova Odesa State Music Academy, Faculty of Orchestral Performance. In 2003, he graduated from the K. F. Dankevych Odesa College of Arts and Culture, Department of Orchestral Performance. He currently works as a sound engineer at the Odesa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre.