Month: January 2026
The Presentation stands as an exploration of beauty as a force of provocation, reflection and transformation. The title draws from a line by American songwriter and political activist Phil Ochs, whose songs became protest anthems of the 1960s: “In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty”. Here, the concept of beauty is not understood as mere prettiness, but as a moment of intensity: a charged encounter, an unexpected harmony, or a subtle disturbance capable of unsettling, awakening, and creating space for the new.
Curated by Dries Van Noten with Geert Bruloot, the Presentation explores craftsmanship as a language of expression and a conduit for emotion. It moves beyond conventional disciplinary borders, gathering fashion, jewellery, art, collectible design, photography, glass, ceramics, and material experimentation within a shared investigation of beauty’s ability to question norms and disrupt dogma. The Presentation unfolds as a constellation of encounters, where established and emerging talents meet in ever‐shifting dialogue. Spanning the ground floor and the first and second Piano Nobile levels of Palazzo Pisani Moretta, it spreads across a sequence of 20 intuitively composed rooms. Here, more than 200 works enter into conversation with the architecture, history, and decorative language of the Palazzo, shaping a narrative guided by instinct rather than rigid logic.
Selected pieces from established fashion houses’ archives are presented together with contemporary textile pieces, underscoring an enduring role as medium of cultural expression and affirming its capacity to generate critical and poetic statements. Collectible art and design
objects coexist with experimental works – by both independent creatives and artists represented by internationally renowned galleries – together forging new directions in sensorial storytelling and material exploration. Moreover, Traditional craftsmanship is showcased alongside innovative international voices, reflecting the Fondazione’s commitment to both safeguarding heritage and nurturing new talents and views. Collectively, these artifacts articulate the Fondazione’s mission: to honor the human dimension of making and the narratives embedded within each object.
Group show
Vue d’exposition | Installation view The God-Trick, PAV Parco Arte Vivente, Turin/IT, 2018. Courtesy PAV, Turin. Photo : Filippo Alfero
Covering 10 hectares, the Hangar Y park has a rich history: designed in the 17th century by André Le Nôtre, it was once part of the gardens of the Château de Meudon. To this day, it offers a peaceful setting where the exhibited works — often poetic and unexpected — engage in harmonious dialogue with the natural ecosystems and the history of Hangar Y.
A new trail, bringing together nearly 25 contemporary works, has been conceived to encourage interaction with the public. It weaves together art and nature, interactivity and enchantment, bringing the magic of the site to life through the eyes of its artists. Visitors will discover Pablo Reinoso’s enchanted bench, Mark Dion’s cabinet of curiosities, and Subodh Gupta’s strange house made of hundreds of cooking pots, alongside architectural and design works appearing for the first time, by Odile Decq and Kengo Kuma. Each piece is an invitation to daydream, blending poetry and wonder, sparking the imagination and playing with the fantastical.
Each year, an emerging artist will be invited to engage in dialogue with these major names in contemporary art. This year, the invitation goes to Pauline Tralongo, who presents her large-scale ladders, conceived as a poetic flight towards the sky.
Forêt de balais (Forest of Brooms) is a work conceived in 2013 by Michel Blazy, presented notably at the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire and later at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017.
Hundreds of brooms made from sorghum straw, carrying sorghum seeds within them, are planted directly into the ground, as if taking root. This simple gesture sets off an irreversible process: surrendered to the rhythms of natural germination, the work evolves and transforms throughout the course of the exhibition. As the shoots develop, they literally breathe new life into the brooms, and the sorghum once again becomes a garden.
The trivial everyday object — equally the domain of the witch and the housekeeper, made of wood and straw — is thus returned to a hypothetical state of nature, as though this fragment torn from the meadows had finally found its way back to its origins. Michel Blazy allows the work to experience time, while freeing it from the artistic gesture itself and relinquishing any attempt to control it. Germination and chance become the true co-authors of the piece, embodying the founding principle of the artist’s entire practice: to provide an initial impulse, then let the living world do the rest.
Huile sur toile / Oil on canvas. 61 × 50 cm (24 × 19 ⅝ inches)
© Nina Childress, adagp 2026
Courtesy the Artist and Art : Concept, Paris
Collection du Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, France
After “Treasures in Black and White,” the Petit Palais presents a new exhibition dedicated to the artist’s portrait and self-portrait. Bringing together a wide selection of 19th-century works — paintings, sculptures, photographs, works on paper, and decorative arts — the museum revisits its masterpieces while unveiling rarely seen pieces.
In dialogue with the collection, ten contemporary women artists working in Paris explore the genre of portraiture between tradition and modernity, each affirming in her own way: “I am my work.”
(CANAL+ Prize and Audience Prize – Clermont-Ferrand 2025)
An absurd tragedy set in a repressive society where kissing is punishable by death and people pay by receiving slaps in the face. Angine, an unhappy woman, engages in compulsive shopping in a department store and becomes captivated by a naïve salesgirl. Despite the ban on kissing her, the two grow closer, arousing the suspicion of a jealous coworker.
The film will be screened at Palazzo Grassi as part of a selection of films from the Schermo dell’arte festival.
Full film available for free on CANAL+
Réalisation / Directed by
Natalie Musteata
Alexandre Singh
Avec / Cast
Zar Amir Ebrahimi
Luàna Bajrami
Vicky Krieps
Aurélie Boquien
Nicolas Bouchaud
Mitchell Jean
Mustapha Abourachid
Thibault De Lussy
Lucile Jaillant
Christophe Grundmann
Sybille Blouin
Rodolphe Meunier
Musique / Music
Bobak Lotfipour
Scénario / Screenplay
Natalie Musteata
Alexandre Singh
The exhibition presents nearly thirty years of work by painter and sculptor Olle Bærtling (1911–1981), an iconic figure of abstraction, in dialogue with the works of seven international artists: Cécile Bart, Rana Begum, Ulla von Brandenburg, Jacob Dahlgren, Bernd Ribbeck, Bella Rune and Brooklin A. Soumahoro. Through very different approaches and mediums, they are revitalising geometric abstract art and exploring its relevance today.