Silvia Cintra + Box 4 Gallery in Gávea represents a fusion between the established and the new: Cintra, with over 20 years of experience as a gallerist in her previous space in Ipanema, joined forces with daughter Juliana in 2010 to refresh the format of the gallery and to merge the work of established artists with a focus on the young and contemporary. The gallery has an international outlook through a decidedly carioca lens, and the artists, as well as the shows they present, regularly use the city as a reference point of hybridity, creation and destruction.

Those represented include Amilar de Castro, Miguel Rio Branco and Leda Catunda, with the striking building realised by architects Tiago Friere and Marcelo Jardim, specifically designed as a hybrid, emergent space that demands experimentation. With three floors contained in a minimal structure, the whole affair is achingly stylish and represents a new contemporaneity in Rio de Janeiro’s art scene. The enviable first floor showing space is fittingly simple for artists and curators to experiment with new formats and themes. Curated by the gallery team or international visiting curators, Silvia Cintra + Box 4 exhibitions can be relied upon to present cutting edge work in a razor-sharp environment, where the very foundations of the building are a monument to contemporary thought.