by Redazione 16/10/2026
Categories: Contemporary art / Disclaimer
The Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation focuses on engaging with contemporary art without adhering to a predetermined theme: with its third exhibition at PM23—a solo show by Ewa Juszkiewicz—the foundation continues to explore new interpretations of beauty and the Maison’s legacy. The foundation’s president, Giancarlo Gi, spoke to us about it.
The Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation aims to foster a dialogue between the Maison’s heritage and contemporary art, without a predetermined thematic program. Giancarlo Giammetti, president of the foundation, explains this to at Finestre sull’Arte on the occasion of the exhibition AURA, dedicated to the artist Ewa Juszkiewicz (Gdańsk, 1984), the third exhibition held at PM23, the foundation’s headquarters in Piazza Mignanelli in Rome. Following *Orizzonti | Rosso*, the inaugural exhibition, and the major solo show by Joana Vasconcelos (see Federico Giannini’s review here), it is now the Polish artist’s turn to carry the project forward.
“There isn’t a specific overarching theme for what we want to do. Our aim is to create symbiosis between what we exhibit and what we want to celebrate about Valentino.” Giancarlo Giammetti explains the foundation’s cultural program in this way, which is geared toward connecting the Maison’s legacy with contemporary art. The goal is not to follow a predetermined theme, but to identify possible points of contact between the works and the values that inspired Valentino Garavani—even when the comparison yields apparent contradictions.
“Strangely, or perhaps by chance, the last two exhibitions have featured women as their main subject,” observes Giammetti. “However, this does not mean that the goal is to showcase only women, even though it is easy to find a connection: women, fashion, Valentino... But that’s not the point.” The choice of themes, therefore, does not follow a single, exclusive line, nor does it intend to limit the Foundation’s cultural project to the relationship between fashion and the female figure. Rather, the exhibition is guided by the search for meaningful connections between different artistic languages, capable of offering new interpretations of the Maison’s heritage.
It is within this framework that AURA takes place, the exhibition scheduled from October 18, 2026, to February 21, 2027, at PM23, the Foundation’s new cultural space in Piazza Mignanelli in Rome. The project brings Ewa Juszkiewicz’s paintings into dialogue with a selection of archival garments by Valentino Garavani, addressing the theme of the representation of women through a juxtaposition that, in Giammetti’s view, does not necessarily seek an immediate correspondence. Juszkiewicz reinterprets 18th- and 19th-century models of female portraiture, concealing or replacing the women’s faces with elaborate compositions of fabrics, sculptural hairstyles, and floral and organic elements: an exploration that may seem at odds with the celebration of feminine beauty associated with Valentino’s history, but which, precisely for this reason, offers the Foundation the opportunity to put its approach to the test.
“I know this exhibition will raise many questions: when looking at an artist who poses questions, many will wonder, ‘What’s behind this?’ I find it beautiful, and I find these women to be beautiful even if you can’t see their faces,” says Giammetti. The reference to beauty is central to his interpretation of the project: “Beauty is what has always captivated and inspired Valentino—it’s what led him to utter the famous phrase, ‘I love beauty, it’s not my fault.’”
The question then becomes how beauty can be recognized even when its representation defies convention. “Some people might say, ‘How is it possible that Valentino celebrates feminine beauty, yet at the same time, we can’t see it?’” But that’s precisely the point. It is the question itself—asking, ‘Who is behind it?’—that becomes beauty.” For Giammetti, it is this ability to raise questions—rather than merely confirming established meanings—that points the way forward for the Foundation’s activities: “I believe this is precisely the path the Foundation can and must take,” he concludes.
AURA therefore aims to exemplify this approach: the archival dresses are not presented merely as testimonies to the history of fashion, but are placed in dialogue with works that challenge traditional codes of representation. PM23 thus becomes, in Giancarlo Giammetti’s vision, a space where Valentino’s legacy can be reinterpreted through different sensibilities and languages, with the aim of forging even unexpected connections between what the Foundation exhibits and what it seeks to celebrate.
 |
| Giancarlo Giammetti says: “We want to create a symbiosis between Valentino and contemporary art” |
Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.