Maria Lanko is a curator, culture producer, and co-founder of The Naked Room gallery in Kyiv, Ukraine. Most recently, in collaboration with Lizaveta German and Borys Filonenko, Maria co-curated Fountain of Exhaustion, the project by Pavlo Makov presented at the Ukrainian Pavilion at the 59th La Biennale di Venezia. (The Art Margins interview with Maria about Maria’s journey to evacuate the artwork for the Biennale at the beginning of the russian war against Ukraine.)

Maria has worked in Ukraine at Karas Gallery (2008), Eidos (2009), and Ya Gallery art centre (2010—2012), and participated in an internship at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, a curatorial residency at the Node Center Berlin, and the Curatorial Platform program at Pinchuk Art Centre. Since 2013, Maria has been working with Lizaveta German as a curatorial collective. The duo has organized more than 30 exhibitions at various venues, ranging from underground artist-run galleries to national museums. In addition, they have collaborated with the National Museum of Arts, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Badischer Kunstverein Karlsruhe, Goethe-Institut, British Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ukrainian Institute.

Maria received her M.A. degree at Taras Shevchenko National University, Department of Oriental Studies and a PhD at the University of Aberdeen (2015—2018).