Mykola Ridnyi: The Kharkiv Trilogy

Join us at e-flux Screening Room on Tuesday, October 1 at 7pm for The Kharkiv Trilogy, a screening of recent works by Mykola Ridnyi featuring Regular Places (2015), NO! NO! NO! (2017), The District (2023), and the earlier work No Regrets (2011/2016). The screening will be followed by an in-person conversation with the artist.

Exploring the resilience and fragility of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Ridnyi’s films capture the city’s profound social, political, and urban transformations over the past decade, specifically under the shadow of the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine. In Regular Places, Ridnyi presents the aftermath of the confrontations between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian factions, reflecting on how the echoes of past violence persist in the city’s relatively peaceful period of life. NO! NO! NO! centers on young creatives—an LGBT+ activist and poet, a fashion model, street artists, and a game developer—whose lives and practices in Kharkiv are inevitably touched by the war in the neighboring Donbass region. The film contrasts their vibrant urban existence with the encroaching instability of the conflict. The District revisits Ridnyi’s personal memories of Saltivka, a district on Kharkiv’s northern edge that became a frontline during the Russian invasion in 2022. The film juxtaposes the present-day “ghost area” of Saltivka with recollections of the artist’s childhood, exploring the coexistence of past and present, external and internal landscapes, facts and memories. No Regrets delves into Kharkiv’s hardcore subculture, capturing a suspension performance in a nightclub where youth radicalism manifests as an extreme bodily experience. Initially seen as a rebellion against societal norms, the perception of pain evolves into a metaphor for a “new normality” in a war-torn context.

Films

Regular Places (2015, 15 minutes)
Depicting Kharkiv’s turbulent confrontation between pro-Ukrainian supporters and pro-Russian separatists, this film intertwines the past’s violence with the city’s present, illustrating how historical wounds linger in the urban fabric.

No Regrets (2011/2016, 6 minutes)
Filmed in Kharkiv’s nightlife scene, this film documents a suspension performance by hardcore youth who embrace pain as a form of protest, reflecting the shifting symbolism of pain in the context of war.

NO! NO! NO! (2017, 22 minutes)
Featuring young Kharkiv creatives affected by the proximity of war, this film examines how the conflict in Donbass shapes the lives and works of those who otherwise represent the vibrancy of a peaceful urban setting.

The District (2023, 20 minutes)
Recounting the artist’s memories of Kharkiv’s Saltivka district, this film portrays a “ghost area” devastated by war, blending personal recollections with the harsh current realities.

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). His practice spans from early public space actions to site-specific installations, photography, and short films, reflecting on the fragile yet resilient interplay between individual stories and collective histories. Ridnyi’s work challenges the representation of violence and war, avoiding the amplification of brutality in visual language. His works have been exhibited internationally, including at Schinkel Pavillon, Transmediale, and DAAD Gallery in Berlin; Albertinum in Dresden; Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw; Bonniers Konsthall in Stockholm; the 56th Venice Biennale; and Kyiv Biennale, among other venues and events.

For more information, contact [email protected].

Accessibility
– Two flights of stairs lead up to the building’s front entrance at 172 Classon Avenue.
– For elevator access, please RSVP to [email protected]. The building has a freight elevator near 180 Classon Ave (a garage door) leading into the e-flux office space. We have a ramp for the steps within the space.
– e-flux has an ADA-compliant bathroom with no steps between the event space and this bathroom.

Host or Publisher e-flux Screening Room