La bocca della verita

According to Roman legend, if a liar placed their hand inside the mouth of the marble simulacrum, it would be bitten. Without showing its teeth, Jean François Declercq unveiled his own version of La Bocca in September, marking the launch of his latest gallery project.

After the successful creation of Atelier Jespers in the modernist home of the eponymous sculptor, and Area 42 in Michel Polak’s building for the ‘Régie du Téléphone et du Télégraphe’, Jean François Declercq once again combined architectural vision with a sharp eye for contemporary design. Behind the intricate, swirling metalwork of Maison van Dijck stood a postmodern house built in 1989 by a then-unknown young architect: Michel Poulain.

When Jean François Declercq was invited to visit this unusual building, it "smiled" at him—and the idea of a new gallery was born.

La Bocca della Verità aimed to support emerging voices in design by offering them a platform to present their work to the public, through a cycle of three exhibitions per year.

The gallery's ground and upper floors hosted both solo and group shows focused on the work of young or self-taught designers, with prices ranging from €500 to €15,000.

The first floor served as a project room curated by Stand Van Zaken, who invited various curators, artists, and architects to take part in a “Cadavre exquis”—a creative experiment in which contributors built upon each other’s work without seeing the whole. Originally initiated in 2019 by Doorzon interieur architecten and Theo De Meyer, Stand Van Zaken functioned as an evolving collaborative platform.