3 days to remind you of what matters.

That is how one could best summarise the collaborative exhibitions that have taken place in Paris this last week.

Hosted at the immaculate @ArtverseParis The gallery space transformed each day. Shifting between sculptural showcases, to flowing flags of identity captured in textile print, and through to street photography; demystified and elevated by record of its capture. All surrounded and supported by a consistent base of contemporary digital work

This was an exhibition series devoid of pretence or ego, multiple teams who should be in separate “competition” were instead supporting each other all in service of one thing; art.

The scope meant these were exhibitions for everyone, without being vapid or toothless . It provided art that was accessible in its scope, it ran the gamut from intimate to raw, young, refined, complex, but always and most importantly, authentic.

Yet at no point did it feel as though it lacked direction. The same variance of teams whose unified strength made this such a stunningly art forward show, also allowed this variety of work whilst still retaining cohesive curations.

From the stunning set of “works that made up “Not quite still” curated for

@cycol_gallery displaying the frozen tension of the individual and the age we live in. On to the physical presence of sculpture and statement pieces put forth by

@caravanapresent. And the raw variety of work submitted and selected by the

@mallowdotart and @WaitHopeFound. To try and sum up any of their individual merits in full here would be a disservice as they are much more deserving of their own focused write ups.

So I will instead talk on their commonality, for what each of these collections of work did was foster what is, in the minds of many, the most valuable of modern resources; Engagement. Not the superficial 1.5 second seen-it-and-swiped it kind, no. The kind that sparks questions and sees a dance of answers, an engagement of mind and emotion, an engagement which sees a creation as the crucible for more, rather than a vehicle of mere investment.

Across these three days we were reminded of what matters, art which harbours cross generational conversations, art that sees an alley turn in to the most popular club in Paris, its music made up of impassioned speech and the clink of glasses. This was art that launched a thousand exclamations, that reminded people they weren’t alone against the world’s rising tides.

On a final note I would also like to say that truly this is a rare and beautiful thing to have an event so thoroughly focused on the human experience as expressed by art. In a world of seemingly endless corporate greed where every corner is cut and surface slapped with advertising, to have an event such as this so thoroughly supported without being destroyed by its sponsorship is a gift we should all be grateful for.