Artists

Steven Shearer, Hubert Duprat, Peter Buggenhout, Misha Kahn, Ann Carrington, Kaori Kurihara, Alexander Kirkeby, Ritsue Mishima, Guillermo Santomà, Nifemi Marcus-Bello

Press release

Fondazione Dries Van Noten presents The Only True Protest Is Beauty, on view from 25 April to 4 October 2026 in Venice. Inspired by activist Phil Ochs, the title frames beauty as a catalyst for intensity, provocation, and transformation.

 Curated by Dries Van Noten with Geert Bruloot, the Presentation considers craftsmanship as a language of expression and a conduit for emotion. 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 profoundly human dimension of making.

Within the rooms of Palazzo Pisani Moretta, the pieces engage with the building and with each other. As visitors move from the ground floor through the Piano Nobile levels, over two hundred objects resonate with ceilings, frescoes, and ornamental details, forming interactions that unfold with rhythm and intuition. Affinities emerge and contrasts ripple through space, each composition carrying the tension between mastery and discovery, between reflection and provocation. The Palazzo itself becomes an active participant, guiding perception and shaping the relationships between forms, materials, and histories.

Beauty here is not a fixed ideal but a questioning presence. Making becomes a process of discovery, a dialogue that carries the traces of intention and imagination. Visitors move through moments of resonance and disruption, where perception awakens and possibilities unfold, and craft reveals itself as an ongoing process of inquiry and encounter.