Mykola Ridnyi’s project “It’s not a…” addresses the violence instigated by right-wing extremists and right-wing populists. In the series “Facing the Wall”, the artist covers the symbols of right-wing radical organizations, some of them from Ukraine, Russia and Poland, with sticky chewing gum–associated with youth culture and its carefree lifestyles. Ridnyi deploys the chewing gum as a symbol for an unwillingness to assume responsibility for one’s actions and cultural or ideological immaturity. What could possibly go wrong with chewing gum or the ‘playful’ and capricious fascination with right-wing imagery and symbolism? Ridnyi’s work suggests that chewing gum eventually hardens into a fairly durable substance. Something similar can happen with ideology as long as it is not questioned.
Mykola Ridnyi works across media ranging from early collective actions in public space to the amalgam of site-specific installations and sculpture, photography, and moving image. He experiments with nonlinear montage and collage of documentary and fiction. His reflections on the social and political reality deal with the rise and international interconnection of right-wing extremism in Europe.
