Galleries Curate Platform Launches Virtual Exhibitions Amid Pandemic

Galleries Curate: RHE emerged as a collaborative platform initiated by gallerists linked to the Basel fair committee in Miami, Hong Kong, and Basel to counter pandemic-induced gallery closures. The project, conceived by a group of 12 that grew to 21 participants, organizes simultaneous virtual exhibitions globally. Chantal Crousel of Paris proposed the inaugural theme of water. The only Brazilian gallery involved is A Gentil Carioca in Rio de Janeiro, directed by Márcio Botner, who is engaged with the Basel Miami committee. Young coordinator Clément Delépine, co-director of Paris Internationale, describes the project's conversations as group therapy. The enigmatic symbol RHE in the title references the Greek 'panta rei,' meaning 'everything flows.' Exhibitions feature multiple environmental themes. Berlin's Tanya Leighton gallery presents Monster Chetwynd's large latex octopus installation alongside an enlarged xerox of Katsushika Hokusai's 19th-century shunga print. Turin's Galleria Franco Noero shows Simon Starling's film about a magnesium canoe crossing the Dead Sea. Brussels' Jean Mot gallery exhibits Francis Alÿs's 1998 animation. A Gentil Carioca displays Arjan Martins's 'Descompasso Atlântico,' opening on April 22, the date of Portuguese colonization in Brazil.