A Ukrainian curator traveled across Eastern Europe to shelter Fountain of exhaustion, installation that will be exhibited to the public at the 59th Art Biennale.
Saved from war: A Ukrainian curator from an art gallery in kyiv told New York on Wednesday of her journey through Eastern Europe to shelter and exhibit at the upcoming Venice Biennale the contemporary work by an artist from his country.
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Hosted in Manhattan by the art gallery of Jim Kempner, an American of Ukrainian origin, Maria Lanko, who runs the gallery The Naked Room (The Naked Room) in kyiv, told reporters about his flight from Ukraine to Italy in late February and early March. As soon as the Russian invasion took place on February 24, the curator loaded her car with several works of art and part of a monumental installation by Ukrainian artist Pavlo Makov, the Fountain of Exhaustion (Fountain of Exhaustion).
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Maria Lanko then heads west for a six-day trip. She crosses the border with difficulty, rushes through Romania, Hungary and Austria, before reaching Venice and dropping off the Fountain of Exhaustion which will be exhibited to the public at the 59th Art Biennale, which is scheduled to begin on April 23. 80 countries, including Ukraine, will have an exhibition pavilion but that of Moscow will be closed, boycotted by its own artists and curator, who are protesting against the conflict.
Knowing and Protecting Ukrainian Artists
Arrived without damage in Venice, the Fountain of Exhaustion was reassembled on the spot. The work is made up of an immense plinth on which are mounted 78 funnels arranged in height and in a triangle with a device for supplying and dripping water from top to bottom. Only a few drops run down the base of the fountain to “to symbolize exhaustion” in the face of war, explained Maria Lanko. Untransportable, this base of the installation was remanufactured in a workshop in Milan. In addition, to promote and protect Ukrainian artists and their works abroad, Maria Lanko, together with other curators from her country, has created a “Ukrainian Art Emergency Fund”. Passed by New York, where many American-Ukrainians live and pole of the art market and fundraising, Maria Lanko reported a collection of approximately “1.54 million hryvnias”Ukrainian currency, more than 52,000 dollars, with the “support” of nearly 200 artists and cultural workers.
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For the curator of kyiv, “it is important to exhibit Ukrainian art because Ukraine remains widely (known) in the West as part of the Russian cultural field”. She lamented that “nobody makes the difference between the two countries and their cultures”while Ukraine and Russia “are not only different, they are the complete opposite”.