Contra-Flecha 2024
Gestures of Love, Seduction Practices

For the second edition of the Contra-Flecha program, the exhibition Gestures of Love, Practices of Seduction brings together artistic productions based on the dynamics of affection and attraction. From the biological and atomic chemistry of the libido to the magic of the power of attraction and its abstractions of pleasure and sexual relations, passing through friendships and family affections, the exhibition discusses the various ways in which love and seduction are represented in art. In this way, it seeks to bring together different generations and voices with different romantic ideas, ranging from immateriality to physicality, from the sacred to the profane, from the explicit to the suggestive, from traditional modes to constant reinventions in ways of relating.

In this sense, the show has three points of reference that illuminate paths and discussions. The first is the life and work of Maria Martins (1894–1973), who left a legacy permeated by works that intertwine radical relationships of love, surrender, and fantasy, and has, herself, a personal trajectory marked by complex affective relationships and transgressions of gender barriers. The second is the series of Objects of Seduction by Lygia Pape (1927–2004) — compositions made with various elements that function as a kind of "mooring", which the artist made as gifts for people close to her. Finally, philosopher Renato Noguera brings to the dialogue his comments, analyses, and reflections on these subjects from the perspective of multiple cosmologies.

In this edition, the curators will be looking at works whose starting point, subject, approach, or process are notions of affection, magnetism, and intimacy. In other words, works that consider the nature of human and non-human interactions, that believe in the power of seduction — or repulsion — and that deal with the physicality, fantasy, and abstraction of relationships. Understanding love beyond its literality, but as an energy that moves us in many directions.

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Contra-Flecha 2nd Edition
Love gestures, seduction practices
Curated by Germano Dushá, Rafael RG and Fabíola Rodrigues
From January 19th to March 9th, 2024