When Dries Van Noten announced that he was stepping back from his namesake label in 2024, many speculated the fashion industry legend would simply disappear into the reclusive ambience of anonymity. But the Belgian designer has never been one to take the obvious route; predictability simply isn’t in his repertoire.
Instead, Van Noten packed up his shears, relocated to Venice and set to work on transforming the historic Palazzo Pisani Moretta into a public institution dedicated to craftsmanship. Six months after he announced the new venture, Fondazione Dries Van Noten has unveiled its debut exhibition; The Only True Protest is Beauty.
Set to run from 25 April to 4 October in the foundation home base of Venice, the exhibition reframes craftsmanship as a shared language of expression and a conduit for emotion. Largely inspired by the worlds of American songwriter and activist Phil Ochs, The Only True Protest is Beauty identifies beauty as the true catalyst for intensity, provocation and transformation; a manifesto that has woven its way into Van Noten’s own career.
”Works from fashion, jewellery, design, art, photography, glass, ceramics and material experimentation move beyond the boundaries of traditional disciplines, responding to one another to challenge assumptions, unsettle expectations and reveal the profound human dimension of making.”
Fondazione Dries Van Noten
Importantly, the new exhibition doubles as the premiere of the space itself. For two long years, Van Noten and partner Patrick Vangheluwe have been painstakingly restoring the heritage Palazzo to its original glory; a process that has invariably led to an even greater appreciation for dying crafts. Within the rooms of the Palazzo Pisani Moretta, the exhibited works create a dialogue with the structural form, playfully engaging with the building itself.
For this, the Fondazione partnered with Venetian-based building restoration and art services business UniSVe. From the stucco marble top panels crafted for the palazzo’s antique consoles, or the bases of the exhibited works painted to echo the Venetian terrazzo floors, every step carried the same attention and care. As guests move from the ground floor through the Piano Nobile levels, they’ll come face to face with over 200 object suspended from the ceiling, frescoes and ornamental objects, In this way the Palazzo becomes more than just a setting, helping transform the space into a living portfolio of art in discussion.
”Beauty here is not a fixed ideal but a questioning purpose,” the Fondazione wrote. ”Making becomes a process of discovery, a dialogue that carries the traces of intention and imagination.”
An exploration of beauty as a charged encounter, Fondazione Dries Van Noten’s debut exhibition is designed to ”unsettle the familiar and make space for the unexpected”. With pieces such as Peter Buggenhout’s brutalist statement The Blind Leading the Blind and Lionel Jadot’s Let Me Talk chandelier leading the object lineup, it’s hard to argue they haven’t nailed the brief. The Only True Protest is Beauty is curated by Dries Van Noten with Geert Bruloot and will run from 25 April to 4 October in Venice.
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