“Stone Hits Stone” Nikita Kadan’s Solo Exhibition
PinchukArtCentre presents “Stone Hits Stone” – an exhibition by Nikita Kadan, organized in the context of the activities of the Research Platform of PinchukArtCentre. His first solo exhibition in Ukraine showcases both newly created and existing works that reflect on themes of Ukrainian history, political violence, national historical heritage, avant-garde, and Soviet utopia. This exhibition explores the challenges of the present time in inseparable connection with the past, using history to illuminate the present and imagine the future.
“Stone hits stone” is the first major solo exhibition of Nikita Kadan in Ukraine and his largest solo exhibition to date. It is a tribute to an artist who has been building a vibrant international career for over 14 years while simultaneously influencing and supporting many Ukrainian artists. Nikita Kadan became only the third Ukrainian artist in 15 years, after Sergey Bratkov and Boris Mikhailov, to have a major solo exhibition presented at PinchukArtCentre. This landmark project continues the long history of the institution’s collaboration with the artist, starting from 2007. Kadan has twice participated in the PinchukArtCentre Prize (winner in 2011), twice in the Future Generation Art Prize (once as a member of the R.E.P. group), was a participant in the “Fear and Hope” exhibition, and presented his works in 5 other group exhibitions. Thus, we honor Nikita Kadan’s creativity with an exhibition that interacts with historical past and simultaneously dreams of the future.”
The exhibition begins with a “flashback,” manifested in an intuitive artistic-historical reflection, mostly through works attributed to the Ukrainian avant-garde. This emphasizes Kadan’s use of historical past in the form of ideologies, art, and acts of political violence.
The exhibition is permeated by historical events, objects, and images that Kadan reinterprets in light of the urgent need today to resist geopolitical mistakes, imperialist aggression, and right-wing radical ideologies.
“Stone Hits Stone” is by no means “history as it was”; it is a motif that flares up at the moment of danger – it illuminates our present and directs us into the future.
On the occasion of Nikita Kadan’s solo exhibition, PinchukArtCentre published a book of the same name, “Stone Hits Stone.” The collected texts by William Bleiker, Bjorn Geldhof, Kateryna Mishchenko, and Kateryna Yakovlenko reveal themes of history and memory, artistic interpretation of the past and violence, as well as the actualization of avant-garde heritage in the present. The design and layout of the publication were developed by Aliona Solomadina.
Bjorn Geldhof
Exhibition Curator
Art Director of PinchukArtCentre
Kateryna Yakovlenko
Curator Assistant
Curator of Public Programs at PinchukArtCentre
Dana Kosmina
Architect and Exhibition Designer
Works “Victory over the Sun” and “Sun and Satellite” were created with the support of Voloshyn Gallery.
Vasyl Yermilov
Sketch of the Monument “Monument of the Lenin Era”, 1961
Paper, watercolor, graphite pencil
Sofiya Nalepinska-Boychuk
“Pacification” of Western Ukraine, 1930
Paper, woodcut
David Hofshtein, Marc Chagall
Troyer [Grief or Sorrow] Poetic Collection
Kyiv, Kultur-Liga. 1922
Viktor Palmov
In the Village (Bypassing the Horse), 1927
Canvas, oil
Nikita Kadan
Tiger’s Leap, 2018
Iron
Manuil Shekhtman
Jewish Pogrom, 1926
Canvas, tempera
Vasyl Yermilov
“Red Ukraine”. Sketch of the agit-train painting, 1919
Paper, watercolor
Vasyl Yermilov
Painting of the “Red Ukraine” train, 1921
Photograph
Ivan Padalka
Plate with painting: “I am a proletarian-mamay, beware of me, bourgeois, do not occupy”, 1923
Porcelain
Vasyl Yermilov
Publication “Bolshevik Sowing” Cover Sketch, 1920–early 1930s
Paper, ink, applique
Nikita Kadan
Residents of the Coliseum, 2018
Sound sculpture based on audio documentation of a public action on the Stone Bridge in Regensburg, video and photo documentation, descriptive texts.
Nikita Kadan
Victory, 2017
Plywood, plaster, and white paint
Nikita Kadan
Spectacle of Unorganized Masses, 2018
Photograph
Nikita Kadan
Chronicle, 2016
Ink, paper
Nikita Kadan
Pogrom, 2016
Charcoal, paper
Nikita Kadan
Sun and Satellite, 2020
Iron, neon
Nikita Kadan
From the series “Broken Staff”, 2019–2021
Iron, print on silk fabric
Nikita Kadan
Victory over the Sun, 2020
Iron
Nikita Kadan
Viewers, 2016
Paper, charcoal
Nikita Kadan
Coal of Donbas (Yermilov—Brak), 2021
Charcoal, paper
Nikita Kadan in collaboration with Dana Kosmina
Architecton of Bald Mountain, 2021
Drywall, wood, lightbox
Nikita Kadan
Everyone Wants to Live by the Sea, 2014
Photography, gouache, graphite
Nikita Kadan
Anonymous, Sooted, 2021
Marble, wood, plastic, resin
Nikita Kadan
Residents of the Coliseum, 2018
Video and photo documentation, descriptive texts
Nikita Kadan
Future Time in the Past, 2021
Charcoal, paper
Exhibition Opening
At the exhibition, you can use the Explainit audio guide, which provides a unique opportunity for individual visits to the exhibition and acquaintance with the works via a mobile phone.
The exhibition will run from February 27 to August 15, 2021. Admission is free
