LONDON.- SOUTH SOUTH is an online community, an anthology and a resource for artists, galleries, curators and collectors invested in the Global South. The platform’s launch brings together over 40 galleries from across five continents to present a more holistic world-view of contemporary art.

The platform will create a repository and a space for new, shared value systems centred on community, collaboration and exchange. SOUTH SOUTH will offer a central portal to experience the programmes and artist profiles of galleries within and dedicated to the Global South. It will host year-round events and seeks, during these tumultuous times, to address an imbalance in the art world framework by providing a means to explore alternative art centres within a broader geopolitical context.

SOUTH SOUTH will create space to magnify urgent conversations globally, foregrounded in these past turbulent months – including; the persisting need for decolonisation, restitution and connected sociopolitical concerns emerging out of recent manifestations of the racial justice movement. This discourse has been compellingly tackled by artists from the Global South for decades.

Another key objective is to highlight that, while the West maintains cultural platforms that uphold its dominance as an economic centre, the Global South and its diaspora is a fulcrum for diverse and remarkable cultural production. With SOUTH SOUTH we are imagining a new, dynamic forum for artists, galleries, collectors and curators to come together. It is an extension of our existing network and makes a compelling argument for a de-centered art market by foregrounding the work of galleries operating outside of the dominant centres.

"SOUTH SOUTH will be a year-round platform of discovery through a central portal to explore gallery programmes dedicated to the Global South with invited galleries able to play a role in shaping the evolution of the platform.

"In addition to launching the platform in February, we will run a live selling event - titled SOUTH SOUTH VEZA - for which participating galleries present OVRs. The event harnesses auction technology in order to work with galleries and artists’ best interests in mind. The ambition is – in the current absence of many physical art fairs – to create an alternative framework and complementary model that is pliable and responds to the needs of galleries, collectors, curators and artists in this critical time." - Liza Essers, SOUTH SOUTH Founder & Collaborator

SOUTH SOUTH VEZA: A SELLING EVENT, 3 – 10 FEBRUARY 2021
SOUTH SOUTH VEZA will be a hybrid of a live, by invitation only selling event powered by auction technology and a peer-led Online Viewing Room (OVR) open to the public.

VEZA means “to show, produce or reveal” in isiZulu - one of South Africa’s 11 national languages.

For the live preview, a curated selection of iconic artworks from the Global South will be on offer. A percentage of proceeds will be sold to benefit nonprofit organisations highlighted as charity partners, recognising the crucial role that these organisations play within the arts ecology.

SOUTH SOUTH VEZA offers an expansion on the role of new artistic production and of commercial galleries in the Global South conversation. Galleries have generated pivotal exhibitions, groundbreaking production and a powerful ecosystem of exchange across the Global South and its diaspora.




The first edition of SOUTH SOUTH VEZA will focus on a group of 40+ invited galleries, whose programmes powerfully speak to issues salient to our current times. Both established pro-grammes and emerging, next generation galleries will be included in the event.

Preview dates: 3-4 February, 2021
Public dates: 5-10 February, 2021

A SOUTHERN FOCUS: PARTICIPATING GALLERIES (HIGHLIGHTS)
From Johannesburg to Manila, Melbourne to Mumbai, Guatemala City to Cairo the SOUTH SOUTH platform will present a diverse picture of the art world ecology, featuring emerging as well as established galleries, including: Alexander Gray Associates (New York), blank projects (Cape Town), Blum & Poe (Los Angeles / New York / Tokyo), Empty (Hong Kong), Experimenter (Kolkata), First Floor (Harare), Galeria Luisa Strina (São Paulo), Gypsum Gallery (Cairo), Isla Flotante (Buenos Aires), Jahmek (Luanda), Marfa’ Projects (Beirut), ROH Projects (Jakarta), Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino (Houston), Silverlens (Manila), Stephen Friedman Gallery (London), Rele (Lagos), Taka Ishii Gallery (Tokyo), Proyectos Ultravioleta
(Guatemala City) and Whistle (Seoul).

ANTHOLOGY, ARCHIVE, EVENTS and BROADCAST
SOUTH SOUTH will identify and archive seminal exhibitions and moments in contemporary art in the Global South; with contributions from key artists, curators, nonprofit organisations and gallerists. The platform will also function as a resource, with an ongoing interview-based editorial component, as well as a site for a live programme of events, talks, film and performances.

SOUTH SOUTH VEZA: LIVE PROGRAMME
Reflecting on the urgent issues of our time, VEZA will host live programming by esteemed curators:

The Talks Programme will be curated by Elvira Dyangani Ose (Director, The Showroom, London).

The film programme will be curated by Rodrigo Moura (Chief Curator, Museo del Barrio, New York City).

The concurrent online exhibition will be co-curated by Paula Nascimento (Independent Curator and Architect, Angola) and Suzana Sousa (Independent Curator, Writer and Researcher, Angola).

POP UP LOCATIONS
The SOUTH SOUTH platform will be accompanied by physical articulations generously hosted by supporters and partners throughout the project. The first of these pop up presentations will manifest in Johannesburg and Tokyo.

FOUNDER CIRCLE
The SOUTH SOUTH platform was conceived by Goodman Gallery as an extension to an on-going curatorial initiative established in 2015. The project has been informed and guided by a 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).

AMBASSADORS
SOUTH SOUTH is supported by a network of Ambassadors, Collectors, Philanthropists and Patrons committed to supporting the arts ecology in the Global South. The Ambassadors will support the platform by sharing with their networks and are available for comment.