"Heartbeats" is a site-specific performance designed as a collective experience of healing anxiety through sound
The building of the Pauls Stradiņš Museum of the History of Medicine is located opposite the Russian Embassy in Riga. Since March 2022, the facade of the museum has featured a huge poster of Putin against a blood-red background, with the lower part of his head depicted as a skull, designed by Latvian artist Krišs Salmanis.
As visitors approach the museum, they come face to face with Salmanis's Putin, and on the way up to the hall where Daria Kalashnikova's performance 'Heartbeats' is taking place, they can see the Russian flag in the courtyard of the Russian Embassy.

‘When I visited the museum for the first time in preparation for the performance, I didn't want to look out of the window where I could see the flag of the country that kills my fellow citizens, so I closed my eyes. Listening to the rhythmic beating of my heart, I suddenly felt an almost forgotten sense of security. I was still literally standing in front of the embassy building of the country whose military occupied my home, but the rhythm of my heartbeat gave me a sense of security.
The experience of performing on the edge of my emotional security gave me an understanding of the fears of people living in Latvia, a country that experienced Soviet occupation and borders Russia. The war is unfolding before their eyes, they meet refugees on the streets of their cities every day, and as a Ukrainian I can not only ask them to understand me, but also to ask them how they have been feeling lately.
I hope that my experience of gaining a sense of security, which I share during the 'Heartbeats' performance, will help visitors to cope with the stress of war.’

Concept

Heartbeats