‘I wanted to do something else with my life. So we started the foundation to be about arts and crafts, and [to] show the importance of craftsmanship – things that are made with your hand, heart and brain. We have named our first presentation “The Only True Protest is Beauty”, a [line] from the activist Phil Ochs, who wrote [it] during the Vietnam War. It resonated with me. But we dropped the first part – “In such ugly times” – I think we are reminded enough,’ says Belgian fashion designer Dries Van Noten, who exited his eponymous label in 2024. ‘I hope the show helps you think about the importance of beauty.’
The scope and scale of the show, which animates the Palazzo Pisani Moretta – home of the recently opened Fondazione Dries Van Noten – is beguiling, emotionally rich and often mind-boggling. Amid the grand stucco reception rooms, chambers (one in which Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empress of the French, slept), and up to a dressing room fitted with chinoiserie marquetry cabinets, one embarks on an expedition into the most exquisite forms of craft.
On wall, Steven Shearer, Whiskered Sentinel, 2024, UV print on canvas, courtesy the artist, Galerie Eva Presenhuber and David Zwirner. Hanging on wall, portrait of Pietro Vettor Pisani by unknown artist, 18th century. In foreground, Julius Blüthner ‘Grand piano 36437’, 1893, rosewood polished case and ivory
Located on the Grand Canal, the palazzo, in all its rococo splendour, offers up a generous and very well-kept environment for Van Noten’s endeavour, which he founded with partner Patrick Vangheluwe on purchasing the palazzo from the Sammartini family in 2025. He worked with Geert Bruloot on the curatorship and with a cohort of young Venetian writers and designers on the texts and graphics. The interventions surprise and make you think at every turn – from the brutal salvaged-metal and dust sculpture by Peter Buggenhout The Blind Leading the Blind that looms at the entrance to a virtuoso theatrical chess set meticulously made in stone, gold beadwork and silk embroidery entitled Le Violiniste. The artist, 23-year-old Joseph Arzoumanov, integrated AI to programme a robotic arm that moves the pieces.
The exhibition is curated in chapters starting with ‘Light and Darkness’, featuring architectural silhouettes by Comme des Garçons and Christian Lacroix – the latter Van Noten’s dear friend, with whom he collaborated on an acclaimed joint S/S 2020 collection. The juxtaposition is emotional, with Rei Kawakubo’s bizarre masses facing Lacroix’s romanticism. Indeed, there are 14 Comme des Garçons designs and some incredible Lacroix gowns situated throughout. The artefacts tease in their boldness and in their intricacy, and one starts to question the push and pull of beauty, the fight for its making and the wonder in its realisation.
Comme des Garçons S/S 2024 gown with headpiece by Julien d'Ys, courtesy of Comme des Garçons. In background, portrait of Giustiniano Bullo as a child by unknown artist, 18th century
Giant portrait photos of sleeping youth, on street corners or in urban cityscapes, by Steven Shearer, create intense encounters, while microscopically beautiful ceramics, like the hybrid botanical forms by Kaori Kurihara in the ‘Nature Morte’ salon, embrace the wild corners of the imagination. ‘Bending Light’ is devoted to glasswork where original 18th-century carafes and goblets make friends with Murano-made wonky chandeliers by Alexander Kirkeby that suggest there’s delight in imperfection.
How is beauty created? Lionel Jadot makes sculptural forms from found wood, baskets and beads that are majestic despite the humble salvaged origins. ‘I use creativity to transform leftovers – I re-use and often don’t know where the piece is going,’ says the Belgian artist. Beauty often finds its expression in nature and in flora that will inevitably fade and droop. In the salon ‘Language of Flowers’ is the work of maker Lilla Tabasso. Her delicate glass sculptures of flowers and grass are ‘planted’ in earth chunks as if encountered on a rewilded patch. The pieces are offset by luminous geometric totems by Ettore Sottsass. There are vanitas motifs throughout, from skull jewellery by Venetian brand Codognato to a gilded porcelain ‘brain’ by Katsuyo Aoki.
Ann Carrington, ‘Persian Slipper’, 2026, silver, nickel and steel-plated cutlery, courtesy of the artist. Ann Carrington, ‘Qiulong’, 2026, silver-plated forks on a tulip wood armature, courtesy of the artist. In background, Tuscan School, 17th-18th centuries, Madonna and child enthroned between the infant saint John and a musician angel
The ‘True Protest’ in this show is profound, with Van Noten and Bruloort traversing myriad expressions to engage with mankind’s ongoing quest to capture the fleeting, transitory nature of beauty itself.
READ: Dries Van Noten on why he's building a new home for craft in Venice
‘The Only True Protest Is Beauty’ runs until 4 October 2026 at Fondazione Dries Van Noten, Venice, fondazionedriesvannoten.org