SOUTH SOUTH VEZA, runs 23 February to 7 March 2021 with live vernissage auction culminating on Tuesday 23 February, 2021 to raise money for not-for-profits in the Global South, and OVRs from 50+ galleries opening 24 February to 7 March 2021.

SOUTH SOUTH is an online community, an anthology, a live resource and an aggregator dedicated to art from the Global South and its diaspora. The community’s first major convening is SOUTH SOUTH VEZA, taking place from 23 February until 7 March 2021.

SOUTH SOUTH VEZA features a curated programme and collector talks, vernissage auction and a peer-led Online Viewing Room (OVR). The programme comprises KIXIMBI: meditations on the middle passage and other atlantic phantoms, an exhibition curated by architect and curator Paula Nascimento and curator and writer Suzana Sousa; Institutional Hybridity, a Think Tank presented in collaboration with The Showroom, London, convened by Director Elvira Dyangani Ose; a Film Programme curated by Rodrigo Moura, Chief Curator of El Museo del Barrio in New York; and In Dialogue: Collector Talks, a series of conversations between SOUTH SOUTH’s Ambassadors, artists and galleries.

Paula Nascimento and Suzana Sousa are both originally from Angola, together they curate KIXIMBI: meditations on the middle passage and other atlantic phantoms. Kiximbi is an expression in kimbundu (a bantu language spoken in Angola) that refers to water spirits, used to evoke both the power of the waters and of the ancestors who lost their life in the sea. By referencing kiximbi, the curators are embracing language as a living culture which has already been dispersed by history, in ways comparable with music, dance or religion.

The South Atlantic is a space that carries the burden of the history of forced removal of bodies across continents, a movement of people that had a particular impact in both the African continent and in the new world or diasporas where they were sent to. KIXIMBI uses contemporary art as a means through which to reflect on the loss this caused — a loss not just of people, but of culture, narratives, languages and strength. It provides a possibility to engage with the different and many narratives that carry the weight of those who have informed them and allows us to deconstruct the fixed and rigid Western gaze and understanding, releasing African art and knowledge production from pre-assigned roles and appearances.

KIXIMBI establishes a dialogue between shores, exploring the links that resulted from a common history. Featuring works by Vasco Araujo (Portugal), Aline Motta (Brazil), António Ole (Angola), Dalton Paula (Brazil), Yinka Shonibare CBE (UK), Buhlebezwe Siwani (South Africa) and James Webb (South Africa), the exhibition juxtaposes artists whose practices engage in this dialogue from different geographies and perspectives, confronting the layers of entangled histories that converge, overlap and diverge towards the present.

Institutional Hybridity is the SOUTH SOUTH Think Tank: a talks programme brought together by Elvira Dyangani Ose, the Director and Chief Curator of The Showroom, London. Speakers include William Kentridge (The Centre for the Less Good Idea, South Africa); Otobong Nkanga (Carved to Flow, Greece), Shaina Anand, Sanjay Bhangar & Ashok Sukumaran (Studio CAMP, India); Pablo Guardiola (Beta-Local, Puerto Rico); Prateek & Priyanka Raja (Experimenter, India) and Jamal Nxedlana (Bubblegum Club, South Africa), amongst many others.

Consisting of four pre-recorded keynote conversations and four live panel discussions, this first edition of the SOUTH SOUTH Think Tank aims to explore strategies and methodologies that various cultural agents around the globe are considering in order to strike a balance that is both sustainable to their local environments as well of interest globally. “The purpose of this Think Tank is not necessarily to produce alternative focuses or centres to current dominants in the art world as seen from the South,” Ose explains “instead, it seeks to offer a look through the myriad of connections and rhizomatic possibilities conceded to such Southerness, as a conceptual paradigm and as the catalyst for a critical and honest engagement to some of the most pressing questions in the field.”

A curated film programme has been drawn together from independent artists and participating galleries in SOUTH SOUTH VEZA by esteemed curator Rodrigo Maura, chief curator of El Museo del Barrio in New York City. The selection encompasses works both recent and from a not so distant past, ranging themes such as identity, the environment, and spirituality. “As the art world lives a digital peak,” Maura notes, “both artists and audiences alike respond to a new reality in presenting and experiencing moving images online.” The programme includes works by Elia Alba (USA), Carmen Argote (Guadalajara/USA), Jonathas de Andrade (Brazil), Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro (Brazil), Carolina Caycedo (UK/USA), Minerva Cuevas (Mexico), Mario García Torres (Mexico), Haroon Gunn-Salie (South Africa), Sky Hopinka (USA), Grada Kilomba (Portugal), Basim Magdy (Egypt), Marcellvs l. (Brazil/Germany) and Rania Stephan (Lebanon).

The SOUTH SOUTH platform was conceived by Liza Essers, owner and director of Goodman Gallery (as an extension of an ongoing curatorial initiative started by Goodman gallery in 2015) and has been informed and guided by a founder circle of gallery-led collaborators: Marcio Botner (A Gentil Carioca, Rio de Janeiro), Liza Essers (Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg), Shireen Gandhy (Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai), Daudi Karungi (Afriart Gallery, Kampala), José Kuri (kurimanzutto, Mexico City), Atsuko Ninagawa (Take Ninagawa Gallery, Tokyo) and Mary Sabbatino (Galerie Lelong & Co., New York City).

SOUTH SOUTH is further supported by a network of Ambassadors, Collectors, Philanthropists and Patrons committed to supporting the arts ecology in the Global South: Jim Amberson (Singapore), Benedicta M. Badia de Nordenstahl (Singapore), Pedro Barbosa (Brazil), Denise Gardner (USA), Stephanie Grose (Australia), Pamela Joyner (USA), Anurag Khanna (India), Pulane Kingston (South Africa), Alan Lo (Hong Kong), Professor Cav. Simon Mordant AO (Australia), Jorge Perez (USA), Lekha Poddar (India), Roberto Diaz Sesma (Mexico/USA), Miwa Taguchi (Japan) and Stephen Tio Kauma (Uganda/Egypt).

IN DIALOGUE: COLLECTOR TALKS
Drawing on experience of philanthropy, collecting and patronage, a series of conversations between Ambassadors, artists and galleries will consider topics ranging from collecting strategies; the arts ecology post-Covid; creating art in a climate of censorship; and the mission of collecting art in the Global South.

THINK TANK talks registration at: https://south-south.art/talks/

SOUTH SOUTH Film Programme access and panel discussion registration at: https://south-
south.art/film-programme/

IN DIALOGUE: COLLECTOR TALKS registration at: [LINK]

SOUTH SOUTH VEZA
Bidding is now open for SOUTH SOUTH VEZA with the highlight lots culminating in a live auction on Tuesday 23 February powered by auction technology and led by experts.
This vernissage event innovatively disrupts the conventional market model by giving full control of the sale to galleries and re-introducing their interaction with the client. The profits will go directly to artists and galleries, with up to 20% of the proceeds benefiting selected not-for-profit partners RAW Projects (Senegal), Green Papaya (Manila) and Casa do Povo (São Paulo) in recognition of the fundamental contribution these make to the art ecosystem of the Global South. In raising much needed funds and spotlighting these organisations, SOUTH SOUTH highlights the crucial role they play in nurturing artists where there is otherwise a lack of institutional infrastructure and support.

The first edition of VEZA features 50+ galleries from more than 40 cities spread across 30 countries and 5 continents, coming together in their dedication to art of the Global South. Galleries including El Apartamento (Havana), Dastan’s Basement (Tehran), First Floor Gallery (Harare), Gypsum (Cairo) and Rele Gallery (Lagos) and not-for-profit partners RAW Material Company (Dakar), Green Papaya Art Projects (Manila) and Casa do Povo (São Paulo) demonstrate SOUTH SOUTH’s role as an aggregator and a resource and community for galleries, curators, artists and collectors.
Vernissage live auction event: Tuesday 23 February VEZA dates: Wednesday 24 February – Sunday 7 March

www.south-south.art