Starting in July, Ukrainian artist Daria Khozhai will exhibit in the main exhibition space of Kunstenlab. On June 9, you can meet her both live and online in her temporary studio at “De Ruimte” in Deventer. During this studio visit she will talk about her artistic practice, her process and the ideas behind her upcoming exhibition at Kunstenlab.

About the artist
Daria Khozhai is a Ukrainian artist and architect. She creates installations in which she often recreates existing physical spaces that carry an emotional charge. Places where personal or collective trauma has occurred in the form of displacement, violence, or physical and/or emotional pain. To achieve this, she usually uses simple, recognizable materials that evoke memories and establish a direct relationship with the space she recreates. Khozhai constructs her installations through time-consuming and repetitive handiwork. A creative process that borders between the obsessive and the ritual. 

For her exhibition at Kunstenlab, she is working on an installation about domestic and relational violence. The artist fled a violent relationship with her ex-fiancé in 2024, after seven years. As part of her therapy she began writing down what had happened to her. Those pages full of personal suffering become the building material for a 1:1 reconstruction of one of the rooms in which she lived with her ex-fiancé. In Kunstenlab, she meticulously recreates the space, where everything—from the sofa to the walls to the light switches—is made of the written pages. It is as if the space, which has been the silent observer of the trauma all this time, has stored the story. In this way, the personal crises, which normally remain invisible to the outside world, are suddenly conveyed by the very same constructions that conceal them from view. 

Curious?
Want to know more about the work of Daria Khozhai? Join the digital studio visit from your living room on the evening of June 9, or visit “De Ruimte” in person. There will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions.

Attend the studio conversation ONLINE and receive a Zoom-link: 
Register here for the online studio conversation. After reserving your spot via Eventbrite, you will receive an invitation from Kunstenlab with the Zoom link. Please make sure to keep this email safe!

Attend the studio conversation LIVE:
Reserve a free ticket here for the studio conversation with Daria Khozhai.

Program information:
19:15 – Digital check-in opens (for live attendance, doors open at 19:00)
19:30 – Start of the studio conversation
20:30 – End of the studio conversation

Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Time: 19:30 – 20:30
Location: De Ruimte, Nieuwstraat 38 in Deventer 
Language: English

Participation is free