Fondazione Dries Van Noten in Venice will host more than 200 works. From garments by Christian Lacroix and Rei Kawakubo to seating pieces by Guillermo Santomà, Nifemi Marcus-Bello, and Lionel Jadot, the exhibition presents a selection of objects that portray beauty as a form of protest.
The first exhibition of the Fondazione Dries Van Noten explores beauty as a force capable of provoking reflection and challenging conventions. It will open on April 25 in Venice, inside the historic spaces of Palazzo Pisani Moretta.
The historic building overlooking the Grand Canal will be accessible to visitors before restoration works begin, through the foundation’s membership program Become a Friend. To take part, visitors will need to subscribe to a membership card valid until April 2027.
The exhibition’s title, “The Only True Protest is Beauty,” comes from a verse by American singer-songwriter and political activist Phil Ochs, whose songs became protest anthems in the 1960s. The title introduces the central theme of the exhibition, curated by Dries Van Noten together with Geert Bruloot.
The show brings together more than 200 works, spanning fashion, art, design, photography, jewelry, glass, and ceramics, displayed across the ground floor and two upper levels of the palace. The exhibition presents beauty not simply as aesthetics, but as a powerful and meaningful form of protest.
“We are interested in beauty not as an answer, but as a question,” say the founders Dries Van Noten and Patrick Vangheluwe.
“Beauty is not an escape from reality, but a way of engaging with it. When beauty allows space for ambiguity, slowness, and contradiction, when it disturbs rather than resolves, then it becomes a subtle form of protest.
This presentation is an invitation to look longer, to embrace uncertainty, and to recognize making as a deeply human act, where concept and craftsmanship meet, carrying with them the culture and memory of the hands.”
Visitors are welcomed, in the portego on the ground floor, by the enigmatic sculpture of Peter Buggenhout (from Axel Vervoordt Gallery). Its ambiguous and dusty presence invites reflection on the uncertainty and impermanence of human experience, introducing the delicate balance between contemplation and disturbance that runs throughout the entire exhibition.
On the first floor, beneath the frescoed ceiling depicting The Victory of Light over Darkness by Jacopo Guarana, a pupil of Giambattista Tiepolo, visitors will find the photographs of sleeping subjects by Steven Shearer (presented with David Zwirner and Galerie Eva Presenhuber).
Alongside them are the Memento Mori–inspired jewels by Codognato, displayed next to haute couture creations by Christian Lacroix and Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons.
Alongside established artists and creatives, the exhibition also features emerging talents, such as the Palestinian designer Ayham Hassan, whose practice—shaped by his life in the West Bank—reveals a vocabulary of resilience through raw and grounded materiality. Also included is the Japanese sculptor Kaori Kurihara, known for her distinctive approach to ceramic work.
The exhibition also presents glass works by Alexander Kirkeby (from Uppercut), Ritsue Mishima (with Pierre Marie Giraud Gallery), and Armand Louis for Wave Murano Glass.
Throughout the rooms of the palace, visitors will also encounter the compositions of Ann Carrington, created using discarded metal elements, as well as a sculptural assemblage by Misha Kahn (presented with Friedman Benda). His work introduces a touch of irreverence into the chapel alcove, a space that was once hidden behind curtains to preserve the intimacy of prayer.
Throughout the exhibition, several works explore the wonders of nature. Among them are the vases created through mineral deposition by Isaac Monté (presented by Spazio Nobile).
Also featured are the Tube de trichoptère by Hubert Duprat (with Art : Concept), in which insects are encouraged to use precious materials such as gold, pearls, rubies, and diamonds instead of sand and twigs to build their protective cases. In doing so, the insects transform into true “jeweler insects,” creating extraordinary natural-artistic forms.
Placed alongside the palace’s original armchairs are contemporary seating pieces by Guillermo Santomà and Nifemi Marcus-Bello (both represented by Side Gallery), as well as by Lionel Jadot (from Objects With Narratives).
These are just a few of the many works that will be revealed, in a play of unexpected pairings that celebrates the excellence of craftsmanship while introducing forms of beauty that are intentionally dissonant or destabilizing.
Fondazione Dries Van Noten
Palazzo Pisani Moretta
San Polo 2766, 30125 Venice, Italy
25 April – 4 October 2026
