Mykola Ridnyi: The Battle Over Mazepa

Pushkin House and John Hansard Gallery are delighted to present a new moving image work by acclaimed Ukrainian artist and filmmaker Mykola Ridnyi. The Battle Over Mazepa conceptualises the historical significance and contemporary perception of Ivan Mazepa, a political and military leader of the Zaporizhian Sich and Left-bank Ukraine in the late 17th—early 18th century. Addressing codes of hip-hop culture, Ridnyi borrows the popular form of a rap battle to collide two great works of world literature associated with this historical figure: Mazeppa by Lord Byron in 1819 and Poltava by Alexander Pushkin in 1828–29. While Byron envisions Mazepa as a romantic hero, seized by love, Pushkin portrays him as a traitor in accordance with the colonial attitude of the Russian Empire. Highlighting the confrontation of these two texts, Ridnyi invited four rappers from different national and cultural backgrounds to write and perform their response to the poets’ lyrics. 

Byron’s romanticised heroic image of Mazepa quickly gained recognition and inspired a number of works in various art forms including Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix paintings, Victor Hugo’s collection of poems, Henry M. Milner’s hippodrama, and many others. While in Ukraine Mazepa is seen as a crucial figure in Ukraine’s fight for independence from Russia, in Russian historiography mostly characterises him as a defector who abandoned his allegiance to the Russian Empire, switching sides during the Great Northern war against the Kingdom of Sweden. It was on the wave of Mazepa’s popularity during the Romantic period that Pushkin, a great admirer of Byron, wrote a poem-response presenting Mazepa as an antihero. 

As part of his work on the film, Mykola Ridnyi invited Susanne Strätling, Professor of Comparative Literature at the Freie Universität Berlin to work with four rap performers to dissect the idealised and imperialist Mazepa’s narratives of the two poems and write a modern interpretation of it. Performers Elie, Moh, Caxxianne and Exo represent different styles of hip-hop culture and spoken word performance. The resulting verses blend historic themes with current sentiments, revealing the urgency of events which took place centuries ago and their resonance in the contemporary global world. 

The project is realised with support by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe (Ad-hoc Fellowship) in collaboration with the Berlin Artistic Research Programme. 

After the launch at Pushkin House, The Battle Over Mazepa will also be exhibited at John Hansard Gallery, part of University of Southampton, from October 28, 2023 to January, 13 2024. This new commission is part of an ongoing collaboration between Mykola Ridnyi and John Hansard Gallery that will culminate in a wider solo exhibition in 2025.

About Mykola Ridnyi
Mykola Ridnyi (b. 1985 in Kharkiv) is an artist, filmmaker and curator who lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine. He is currently participating in the Berlin Artistic Research Grant Programme of the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Europe. He was recently appointed a Guest Professor for Experimental Film, Photography and Animation at the Universität der Künste Berlin. His installations, photographs and films have been presented at many institutions and festivals, including the Albertinum in Dresden, Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Bonniers Konsthall in Stockholm, Transmediale, the 56th Venice Biennale and others. 

About John Hansard Gallery
John Hansard Gallery is a locally engaged and internationally recognised contemporary art gallery in Southampton. Our vision is to create a curious, connected and inclusive world, inspired by art. The Gallery has an innovative programme of exhibitions, events, engagement and research projects, accompanied by special community-focused projects. John Hansard Gallery is a part of the University of Southampton and is a National Portfolio Organisation supported by Arts Council England. www.jhg.art