Contra-Flecha is an exhibition program that provides a space for critical and curatorial experimentation interested in new perspectives on Brazilian art history. Powered by Almeida & Dale, the program establishes dialogues between works from its collection and network — mostly modern art pieces from the 20th century — and contemporary artists with incipient commercial circulation or at the beginning of their artistic trajectories. Contra-Flecha inaugurates the gallery's annual exhibition and project calendar, paving the way for essential debates and new connections among art professionals.

In civil engineering, “contraflecha” refers to different construction procedures that avoid deformation and ensure structural support for beams, struts, and slabs once installed. The program's name indicates its fundamental energy: the term “flecha” (arrow)—an instrument that points forward, crossing, tearing, and inciting the idea of a cut in time—, is balanced by the word "contra” (counter/against), a movement that breaks with linearity and invites the revisitation of historically silenced canons and voices.

Contra-Flecha is the desire to expand visions and possible horizons by confronting consolidated values and current artistic processes. The program aims to propose unusual dialogues and critically reflect on the commercial integration of different artistic practices. As an experience, it intends to penetrate instances and foster uncommon flows, working in pendular and spiral dynamics to decentralize discourses, customs, and operations of the history and the current system of Brazilian art.

Contra-Flecha was conceived and developed by curator Germano Dushá and artist Rafael RG, with methods and management by researcher Fabricia Ramos. For each edition, other agents are invited to join the curatorial team, participating in artists’ selection through an open call, guest artists’ invitation, and defining the final exhibition. Annually, the curatorial committee defines the overall proposition for the edition, selects a range of works from the Almeida & Dale collection and network in light of the curatorial concept, and determines the list of artists through invitation and open call selection, focusing on artists at the beginning of their trajectories and/or those with little commercial circulation in the Southeast region.

In the invitation category, the curatorial committee maintains an open and ongoing research process aimed at strengthening the program overall and informing the formulation and number of invitations for each edition. Meanwhile, the open call category follows a set of criteria in each edition’s outline, resulting in the selection of up to 10 artists. Brazilian artists from all social backgrounds who work in different languages and media, including visual arts, as well as audiovisual, installation, performance, sound, and textual formats, among others, are eligible to participate in the selection process.

Finally, despite its exhibition nature, the program is structured to commission and support the production or finalization of works related to the curatorial proposal of each edition. In addition to the exhibition, the program also produces a brochure and a catalog — distributed for free both printed and online —, a conversations program, and audiovisual documentation with presentations by the curators.