Dima Kadyntsev's project "Something's broken in the scooter, mmmmm, take another one" was created as part of an art residency. Usually, this format implies three conditions: a time limit, adaptation to a new workplace, and the creation of a final project. Having found himself in Nizhny Novgorod for a month, the artist Dima Kadyntsev slightly deviated from the rules: he started a renovation in the space of Gallery 9B and concentrated not on a specific result, but on the process - including in his artistic practice. He synchronized with the measured rhythm of the city and began to slowly but methodically try new things - for example, take pictures on film and make sketches with gouache and watercolors. In his drawings on drawing paper, the artist repeats the same motif - the Running Candle from the eponymous painting series, started at the end of 2023. Unlike large-scale canvases, new works are created almost instantly — like a shutter click, are not edited afterwards and resemble the dynamics of a single film roll.

Dima defines the exhibition in Gallery 9B as a series of exercises, brought to automatism so much that each merges into one conditional approach. Endless, like a swing, in the movement and English name of which — see-saw — there is a rhythm. Back and forth, up and down, see-saw. A swing requires two, a system of checks and balances, a dialogue of babble and rustle. A candle needs a Hedgehog, a Hedgehog needs a Candle, and Dima needs a working scooter.

Text by Elmira Minkina

The project is part of the Art Residences program of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, aimed at developing creative industries and contemporary art in the region. The program is implemented with the support of the Government of the Nizhny Novgorod Region and ANO Center 800.