What’s the ‘Fountain of Exhaustion’ that has taken the Venice Biennale by storm?

Ever since Ukraine came under attack from its neighbour Russia on 24 February, discussions and efforts over saving the country’s cultural heritage stored in its museum, libraries and art galleries have run parallel to those about the war.

Last week, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy opened an exhibition at the Venice Biennale festival, he said, “art can tell the world things that cannot be shared otherwise”.

Ukraine’s culture and its art traditions is at the centre stage in Venice as artworks have been escorted out of the country by police.

According to the BBC, at the Zelensky-endorsed exhibition called “This is Ukraine: Defending Freedom”, there are Ukrainian artworks by the likes of Maria Primachenko, who has become a symbol of the country’s national identity, as well as a 17th Century icon of the Virgin Mary, believed to be by Stefan Medytsky.

Another such Ukrainian artwork is Pavlo Makov’s “The Fountain of Exhaustion” that has been creating quite a buzz at the Venice Biennale, let’s take a look:

Rescuing art from artillery

Hours after Russia initiated a full-blown armed assault on Ukraine on 24 February, art curator Maria Lanko packed 78 bronze funnels into boxes and loaded them into her car, reported CNN.

As air raids sirens blared and bombs hit the outskirts of Ukraine, Lanko started the long journey out of Kyiv to Venice with the components of an artwork belonging to one of the most prominent Ukrainian artists alive, Pavlo Makov.

According to the BBC, at that point it was unclear whether Makov would be joining Lanko in Venice in time for the biennale.

A resident of Kharkiv, one of the worst hit cities during the early Russian assault, Makov spent about a week in bomb shelters after “really intensive bombing of the city” before leaving with his 92-year-old mother and other family members “under missile attack… We put five of us in my car, and we just left the city”, the BBC reported.

After six days on the road, Lanko crossed the border into Romania from where she travelled to Budapest, Hungary and eventually ending up in Austria’s Vienna.

Weeks after the war began, Lanko, Makov and co-curators Borys Filonenko and Lizaveta German were eventually reunited in Venice to complete final preparations together.

The Fountain of Exhaustion

Facing all odds as the team reunited in Venice ahead of the biennale, the growing sense among the members was that they should act as ambassadors for their country.

The artwork, involving the 78 bronze funnels, is called “The Fountain of Exhaustion”. Arranged in a triangle through which water drips and divides, the artwork is a metaphor for “the exhaustion of humanity, the exhaustion of democracy”.

However, it has assumed a new identity, a new meaning in the light of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
It had, by default, become a piece of “war art” — and being in the spotlight has proved difficult for the team. “It’s a little bit paid by blood,” said Lanko, as reported by CNN.

“We embrace all the attention because we understand that we’re the ‘speakers’ at the moment — the ambassadors of our country and of our culture,” she continued, explaining that she hopes the conversation surrounding the pavilion can address Ukrainian art more generally.

The curators said in a statement in March that in times like this, it becomes more important than ever to represent Ukraine at the exhibition.

“When the sheer right to existence for our culture is being challenged by Russia, it is crucial to demonstrate our achievements to the world,” they added, as quoted by Deutsche Welle.

With inputs from agencies

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