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Mykola Ridnyi

Mykola Ridnyi is an artist, filmmaker, and curator born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, now living and working in Berlin, where he holds a guest professorship in the Lensbased class at Berlin University of the Arts (UdK).

He works across media ranging from early collective actions within the SOSka group to the amalgam of individual site-specific installations and sculptures. Nevertheless, moving image and photography cycles constitute the current focus of his practice. In recent films, he experiments with nonlinear montage, collage of documentary and fiction. His way of reflecting social and political reality draws on the contrast between fragility and resilience of individual stories and collective histories.

A number of Ridnyi’s films and photography cycles are related to his hometown of Kharkiv. The role of the second largest city of Ukraine dramatically changed because of the Russian war of aggression: from a scientific, cultural and logistical center to a defensive frontier. The body of work created over the past decade is a mix of stories, places and actions, shaping the narrative of people, city and country, and underlines the significance of historical context. His work addresses the question of how to talk about violence and war but not multiply its brutality in the visual language.

His works have been exhibited internationally, including at Schinkel Pavillon, Transmediale, and DAAD Gallery in Berlin; Albertinum in Dresden; GFZK in Leipzig, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw; Bonniers Konsthall in Stockholm; the Kyiv biennale, e-flux screening room in New York and Los Angeles Filmforum among the others. He participated in the national pavilion of Ukraine at the Venice biennial twice (2013, 2015) as well as in the main program All the World’s Futures of the 56-th Venice Biennale.

www.mykolaridnyi.com

Following images are the installation views of his recent solo exhibition “Loss of Vision” at Foto Forum in Bolzano. © Luca Guadagnini, 2024