Installation with works on paper and a single-channel audio  
Dimensions variable
TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Collection

Nikita Kadan’s artistic research and practice delve into the intersections of history, memory, and political critique, often addressing the complexities of post-Soviet societies and their relationship with the past. Through a multidisciplinary approach encompassing painting, installation, and archival work, Kadan investigates the mechanisms of historical amnesia, the persistence of ideological narratives, and how art can serve as both a tool for resistance and a means of revisiting suppressed histories. His projects frequently engage with forgotten or overlooked historical events, interrogating how these narratives are preserved, distorted, or erased over time. Kadan’s work often blends archival materials and fictional or speculative elements to explore how collective memory is constructed and contested, making his practice a critical lens through which to examine the forces that shape our understanding of history and identity.

Kadan’s “Revisionist Syndrome” series engages deeply with the themes of memory, historical revisionism, and artistic reconstruction. At the heart of this project lies the enigmatic figure of N., a man who navigated the shifting cultural landscapes of interwar and Soviet Ukraine. Born in Stanislaviv (modern-day Ivano-Frankivsk) and later studying art in Lviv, N. experienced the vibrant artistic currents of his time, including the modernist movements of the “artes” association and the Krakow Group.

By the 1970s, N.’s life had taken a stark turn. He worked as a designer in a Soviet factory while also becoming a patient in a local psychoneurological dispensary. Diagnosed with “revisionist syndrome,” N. believed that his recollections of historical events could alter the past and thus reshape the present. This diagnosis, a central element in Kadan’s narrative, symbolically reflects the power of memory and historical interpretation, themes that resonate throughout the series.

N.’s contribution to art history came late in life when he meticulously reconstructed modernist works—artworks he had seen in exhibitions during his youth— from memory. These reconstructions formed the backbone of an exhibition held at the Ivano-Frankivsk Local History Museum in December 2021. Among the fifty-four visual works displayed were interpretations of abstract works by artists such as Leopold Levitsky and Maria Yarema, alongside modernist pieces by Soviet Ukrainian and Polish artists like Kazimir Malevich. Central to N.’s memory is the “Stanislaviv Exhibition of 1931,” an event he described as a ground-breaking moment of cultural exchange between Polish and Soviet Ukrainian avant-garde artists—though no substantial proof of this exhibition exists, except for a rediscovered radio program and fragments of interviews. This “impossible exhibition” is pivotal to Kadan’s exploration of how personal memory can intersect with collective history, even when it veers into the realm of the imagined.

The project, much like N.’s fragmented recollections, blurs the boundaries between fiction and reality. It prompts us to reflect on how historical narratives are constructed, contested, and ultimately reshaped through time. An integral part of “Revisionist Syndrome” is a fictional radio program from 1931, crafted as a key piece of the project’s narrative. Presented through an old speaker, this 14-minute audio recording was written and voiced by the renowned Ukrainian writer Yuri Andrukhovych, with sound design by Lera Polianskova. The radio broadcast, purportedly from Kharkiv, supports N.’s account of the “Stanislaviv Exhibition of 1931,” the pivotal event in his recollection of modernist art history. While the exhibition itself is unsubstantiated, the radio piece amplifies the sense of historical ambiguity that runs through the project, blurring the line between fact and fiction. This use of sound, delivered through a vintage speaker, creates an evocative atmosphere that immerses the listener in the era and highlights the role of media in shaping and distorting historical memory.

“Revisionist Syndrome” is further enriched by Kadan’s written contributions, including an introduction, a narrative biography of N., and texts for various chapters in N.’s biography. These texts offer crucial context, weaving N.’s fictional biography into broader historical narratives and enhancing the exploration of memory, artistic reconstruction, and historical revisionism.