all power to the beach!

For Art Basel OVR Miami Beach 2020, Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro will be our temporary exhibition space. In todo poder à praia! [all power to the beach!] art interconnects with the city and the sea, through a special selection of works by Aleta Valente, Arjan Martins, Cabelo, Jarbas Lopes, João Modé, José Bento, Laura Lima, Marcela Cantuária, Maria Laet, Maria Nepomuceno, OPAVIVARÁ!, Rodrigo Torres and Vivian Caccuri.

In this exhibition, art overflows the desire of occupy the public space, camouflaging itself in the sonority of marine waters, in the joy of kiosks and sidewalks, in the taste of fruit popsicles, in the cool breeze that touches our skin. The beach is a democratic place where all people can move freely and contemplate the same infinite horizon - a blue immensity that protects the plurality of stories, beliefs, miracles and mysteries

At the Brazilian beaches, it is customary to bathe in the sea to renew emotions, a ritual that attracts good luck to the new cycles that are beginning. Iemanjá - patron saint of fishermen - is the one who decides the fate of all those who enter the sea. In the New Year’s Eve, under the syncretic influence of Afro-Brazilian traditions, it is quite common to present her [as well as other entities and orixás], as a sign of gratitude for the promises kept.

Above all, this is not the first Gentil action on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. In the summer of 2010, the ALALAÔ project emerged in Ipanema beach, an artistic-political-affective mobilization to carry out a series of actions on Arpoador beach, idealized by Marcio Botner, Ernesto Neto and Marcos Wagner. This project inaugurated our activities on the beach sands of the seaside town, with the aim of integrating art into public spaces.

Thousands of kilometers separate Rio de Janeiro from Miami Beach, but the traces of coastal culture allow us to create a converging imaginary, whether due to the tropical climate, the seaside architecture, the typical clothing, behaviors and traditions they share. Art will collect in the infinite horizon, elements that reduce distances and bring us closer by the poetics.