Hosted in Manhattan by Jim Kempner's art gallery, an American of Ukrainian origin, Maria Lanko, who runs "The Naked Room" gallery in kyiv, told journalists about her 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").

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 depositing there the "Fountain of Exhaustion" which will be exhibited to the public at the 59th Art Biennale, 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.

Arrived without damage in Venice, the "Fountain of Exhaustion" was reassembled on site.

The work consists of a huge base on which are mounted 78 funnels arranged in height and in a triangle with a device for feeding and trickling water from top to bottom.

Only a few drops run down the base of the fountain to "symbolize exhaustion" in the face of war, Ms Lanko said.

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 has created with other curators from her country an "Ukrainian Emergency Fund for Art".

Passing through New York -- home to many Ukrainian-Americans and the center of the art market and fundraising -- Ms. Lanko reported a collection of around "1.54 million hryvnia", Ukrainian currency, more than 52,000 dollars, with the "support" of nearly 200 artists and cultural workers.

Maria Lanko, Ukrainian curator of "The Naked Room" art gallery in kyiv, tells the press about her journey by car from kyiv to Venice to evacuate a work by Ukrainian artist Pavlo Makov, April 6, 2022 in New York TIMOTHY A. CLARY AFP

For the curator from 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 differentiates between the two countries and their cultures", while Ukraine and Russia "are not only different, they are the complete opposite".

© 2022 AFP