Felipe Salem installed on Vermelho’s façade a ladder that can only be climbed by an observer without fear of heights. From the top of the ladder – about 5 meters from the ground – it is possible to look through a hole in the wall and see the inside of Room 2, on the gallery’s upper floor. The intrepid observer who dares to climb the five meters gains not only a unique perspective for observing the show, and the show’s visitors, but his/her physical effort will also be rewarded with a cup of water, accessible by means of a straw installed by Salem at the end of the ladder.
As the basis for the entire liberal economy, work arises in the modern era as a driving force that underpins all the transformations necessary for the full establishment of the modern. In Para onde os mosquitos vão quando chove there is a clear analogy created by Salem with the positivist concept of work as a series of efforts expended by man with the aim of attaining a goal.

The exhibition “Museu do Homem do Nordeste” features three of his most recent projects: the installations “Cartazes para o Museu do Homem do Nordeste” [Posters for the Museu do Homem do Nordeste] (2013), “40 Nego Bom é 1 real” [40 nego bom for 1 real] (2013), and “O Levante” [The Uprising] (2012–2013). These works are articulated as a collection in parallel to the Museu do Homem do Nordeste, located in the city of Recife [PE]. Created in 1979 by Gilberto Freyre, the anthropological museum has a collection of more than 15,000 pieces representative of the region’s ethnic, historical, and social makeup.

In this series of works, Jonathas de Andrade experiments with new bases and methodologies for the original museum and presents at Galeria Vermelho the first version of this paramuseum.

On the gallery’s facade, artist Eva Grubinger installed a flag and a bronze plaque, from the Embassy of Eitopomar, a utopian kingdom in the Amazon jungle ruled by the villain Dr. Mabuse.

Os tridimensionais “Curvas de jardim” e a fachada são construídos por módulos de vergalhões de ferro dobrados, conhecidos como ‘Curvas de jardins’. Essas peças são colocadas lado a lado até formarem uma cerca baixa que restringe a mobilidade das pessoas. Paradoxalmente, a lógica técnica cria belas formas, abauladas, harmoniosas, que parecem ir contra o sentido de sua funcionalidade original

O discurso sobre o poder e sobre os conflitos sociais, mais ou menos latentes, permeia os materiais, influencia sua escolha, constitui, de certa maneira, a verdadeira matéria prima das esculturas e instalações de André Komatsu.

In Alfabeto Fonético Aplicado II: pavimentaram a Panamericana e tudo o que vejo é a falha de Darien [Applied Phonetic Alphabet II: They paved a Panamericana and all I can see is the Darien Gap] (2010), Zaccagnini appropriates the International Radiophony Spelling Alphabet, known as the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, currently used by aviation companies and ham radio operators around the planet.

The work proposes a new alphabet for spelling based on words whose meaning and spelling is international, but whose pronunciation is adapted to various languages and to the sounds of each country. In the first edition of the work, presented at ARCO 2010, Zaccagnini appropriated the Panama Canal’s motto, “Dividing the land to unite the World.”

The current version, which occupies the gallery’s façade, perverts the previous one, pointing to a world that is not so unified, since the Pan-American Highway, which should link Patagonia to Alaska, still has an 87-km gap between Colombia and Panama (the Darien Gap), which belies the concept of unification that nourished the creation of the Panama Canal.