Joana Vasconcelos presents Valentino Garavani exhibition at MAAT

The Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon is hosting an exhibition titled ‘VENUS – Valentino Garavani through the eyes of Joana Vasconcelos’ until February 22. The project is a collaboration between the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation and Portuguese sculptor Joana Vasconcelos.

The exhibition features a dialogue between Vasconcelos’s sculptural works and the fashion archives of the renowned Italian designer. Vasconcelos aimed to highlight the diversity of Valentino’s craftsmanship, specifically his use of embroidery and various fabrics to create a ‘goddess-like’ identity for women.

A central piece of the exhibition is ‘Valkyrie Venus’, a 13-meter textile sculpture. Vasconcelos stated the work explores the paradox between the domestic and the luxurious, contrasting the private, unseen woman with the public woman who is transformed by wearing Valentino couture.