Sometimes, all it takes is a single push to create something truly beautiful. This is the story of the Breathing Machines project.
On December 18, 2025, the Department of Visual Design and Art, the Institute of Architecture and Design, Lviv Polytechnic, together with the multimedia laboratory Garmonia room, presented the audiovisual installation Breathing Machines dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Engine Room.
– The Department of Visual Design and Art is less than two years old, yet it has already demonstrated strong potential across a range of contemporary art spheres. The Department actively shapes current artistic and design practices, employing interdisciplinary teaching approaches that enable students to work at the intersection of classical training, new media, and experimental design. The Breathing Machines project showcases our capacity to create innovative audiovisual solutions that resonate organically within the global context and open new prospects for the Department’s development as a hub of creative innovation, commented Viktor Shtets, Head of the Department.
The audiovisual project Breathing Machines was implemented with the support of the leadership of Lviv Polytechnic National University, in particular, its Rector Nataliia Shakhovska, the Vice-Rector Mykola Lohoida, the Director of the University History Museum Tetiana Dyba, and the Head of the Department of Visual Design and Art Viktor Shtets, who made the Engine Room accessible for modern artistic interpretation.
The initiator and ideological inspirer of the event was Viktor Zhyrkov, lecturer at the Department of Visual Design and Art. Together with his creative partner Vitalii Turyk, he brought together the Department’s faculty – Viktor Shtets, Roman Zhuk, Oleksandr Nesterenko, Myroslav Stetskyi, Oksana Melnyk – and representatives of the creative community to implement an interdisciplinary media performance.
The music for the project was created by Viktor Zhyrkov (Garmonia), Vitalii Turyk (Purple Daddy), and Serhii Diadko (GVL), while the video and visual component was developed by Taras Habrel together with master’s student Maksym Zinko.
Due to its scale, the project required substantial resources and the coordinated efforts of a large team. Patronage support was provided by LevMetal. Technical partners included Patriot Rental, M-Rental, EXO, and Nightmares.prod, while videography was carried out by Yurii Dakevych in collaboration with Nightmares.prod.
The project transformed the Lviv Polytechnic Engine Room into a live media space. It was Viktor Zhirkov’s idea that set the vector for this transformation – from an academic industrial hall to an open space of modern media culture.
