South SouthCuratorial Initiative
South South is a long-term curatorial initiative conceived as a framework for exchange across the Global South. Launched in 2015 as an exchange between South Africa and Brazil, it combined exhibitions, research travel, residencies, and collaborative production, later expanding to include artists across Africa and Latin America through exhibitions and film programmes from 2017–2021. In 2020, the initiative was reimagined as a collaborative online platform, scaling its founding vision and broadening its focus to the Global Majority – cultural producers who constitute most of the world’s population yet remain underrepresented within dominant Euro-American art circuits. Today, South South continues through a quarterly externally curated programme on Goodman Gallery’s website, placing artists beyond the gallery’s roster in dialogue with those it represents and extending its commitment to cross-regional exchange.
While a conversation between Brazil and South Africa anchored the inaugural edition, subsequent iterations expanded its curatorial scope: the 2017 edition extended dialogue to include artists from Cuba, Angola, and Mozambique; and the 2019 edition culminated in a major exhibition across Johannesburg and Cape Town, alongside a film programme bringing together artists from across Africa and Latin America, later presented at arteBA in Argentina.
Conceptualised during the 2020 pandemic lockdown and launched in early 2021 with a group of gallerist collaborators, the South South platform expanded participation across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia, bringing together galleries, artists, curators, and collectors. Through publicly accessible online selling events, exhibitions, talks, and film programmes (2021–2022), alongside partnerships with organisations, museums, and art fairs including RAW Material Company, Green Papaya Art Projects, Casa do Povo, El Museo del Barrio, SP–ARTE, and FNB Art Joburg, it fostered horizontal exchange and expanded access to critical discourse and time-based practices. The platform also supported residencies through ambassadors including Jorge M. Pérez and El Espacio 23, and collaborated with curators including Elvira Dyangani Ose, Rodrigo Moura, and Paula Nascimento.
Past South South Exhibitions
