Archived - South South

Bunmi Agusto on view at kó

In Outside, Bunmi Agusto draws us further into ‘Within’, the name she gives the imagined world that has remained at the heart of her practice

Tokyo Art Week 2022

Art Week Tokyo inaugurated an expanded edition in November 2022 in collaboration with Art Basel.

Ryohei Usui shows at MUJIN-TO Production

The subjects of this exhibition, scenes that Usui sees on the streets that somehow catch his fancy, are sometimes beautifully presented, and at other times with an air of subtle humour.

Campana Brothers show at Luciana Brito Galeria for the first time

Dissolving the barriers between the artistic expressions, the partnership affirms the gallery’s aim to increasingly embrace multidisciplinarity in its activity.

Shezad Dawood’s public installation ‘HMS Alice Liddell’

Shezad Dawood's public installation 'HMS Alice Liddell' A site-specific physical and AR spaceship that explores time travel, steampunk, architectural and science fiction references. The installation HMS Alice Liddell (2022) in London's St Pancras Station is named after the women’s rights campaigner who is thought to have inspired the character Alice from Lewis Carroll’s novel Alice in Wonderland; the original manuscript for which sits in the nearby British Library. Dawood’s sculpture imagines a new travel vessel,...

Rirkrit Tiravanija: Mezcal vs. Pulque at kurimanzutto

With the help and collaboration of Cooperativa 1050º, a cooperative of potters from Oaxaca, Puebla and Chiapas, and led by Kythzia Barrera, Tiravanija worked on special designs for vases, cups and other vessels that were shown in the exhibition.

Roberto Gil de Montes has his first solo in Mexico

Evoking high summer in Nayarit, this series of oil paintings explore the hidden images and forgotten or imagined stories of life in the tropics in rainy season.

Shezad Dawood | ‘Integrations’ series

This body of work consists of paintings on jute, each an abstract portrait of a particular project for the built environment but titled as a portrait of the architect(s) who designed them.

An interview with Theresa Musoke

Musoke considers herself a semi-abstract painter and is best known for her expressive portrayals of the region’s abundant wildlife, using a range of mediums to develop her imagery.

Exploring the cinematic work of Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca

Working together for a decade now, Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca have been producing films and video-installations in dialogue with other artists connected to sound and stage. Learn more about their practice and recent exhibitions.

Gozo Yoshimasu’s latest project 吉増剛造 : Voix shows at Take Ninagawa

This project explores how the distinctions between sound and meaning blur in spoken language.

SCENORAMA

The artists included in this version of SCENORAMA are interested in creating new ways of thinking about the accessibility of individual and collective experiences.

An interview with Gor Soudan

Gor Soudan is a conceptual artist living and working in Kisumu and Nairobi. Often subtly engaged with contemporary political and social issues and embedded in urban culture, Gor’s artistic practice is an organic process through which everyday material is transformed into powerful work.

In Situ: Encounters of Place

Through paintings and mixed media works, the artists reflect on the concept of place and origin in rapidly changing social, political, and economic realities.

Silverlens opens a gallery space in New York

This expansion was necessitated by the growth of the gallery’s programme and the drive to bring a broader representation of Southeast Asian, Asian Pacific, and Diasporic artists into the wider framework of the contemporary art dialogue.

The 12th edition of the Experimenter Curator’s Hub

Experimenter Curators’ Hub is a platform for developing and sustaining discourse on curatorial practice and exhibition-making through critical discussion and debate. This year marks its return to in-person conversation.

STPI shows Charles Lim Yi Yong in their final installment of PRINT SCREEN

For the third edition of its PRINT SCREEN programme, STPI Gallery presents a line-up of works by Charles Lim Yi Yong at its pop-up space, ArtSpace @ HeluTrans.

Hearts on Fire — Reflections on Parsi photography: past, present and future

This exhibition presented works by thirteen artists on the nature of Parsi identity, exploring the diverse ways in which the Parsi community has been visually represented and placing specific emphasis on contemporary images amidst shifting narratives of memory and belonging.

touch | A solo exhibition by Yoko Asakai

This show aimed to create a bridge between life before and after the pandemic.

Remember the Days | An eccentric retrospective of Chim↑Pom from Smappa!Group’s experimental practice

This exhibition mimicked their actual studio; at the border between fictitious and real.

On the Brink | A solo exhibition by Martand Khosla

As both an artist and a practicing architect, Khosla is deeply involved with the built environment and he sees his artistic practice as an exploration of the continual regeneration of our cities. This is Khosla’s third exhibition with Nature Morte.

Landscapes of the Soul

Spanning over two decades and following a loose chronological order from 1993 to the present, the exhibition presented over seventy works characterising the artist’s engagement with abstract, symbolic, and thematic themes, and more importantly, his heartbeat for Nigeria.

Reynier Leyva Novo shows at Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino

The exhibition features an installation of five hundred plaster casts of the empty interiors of vessels and a coordinating wall installation comprised of fifty embossed prints made from metal casts of the plaster sculptures.

Chevron Hassett: Hello Mr Kāwana

‘Hello Mr Kāwana’ was part of an ongoing project that engages with colonial narratives as a means to understand the histories that have shaped identity and landscape in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Oscar Muñoz shows at Sicardi | Ayers | Bacino

Experience the show through installation views and a text by Blanton Museum of Art curator Vanessa K. Davidson.

STPI presents PRINT SCREEN

Through their residency programme, STPI’s Creative Workshop collaborates extensively with international artists to create works in the mediums of print and paper. PRINT SCREEN is a fresh take on works created by their artists-in-residence

Galerie Lelong: Dialogues | Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum with Tao Leigh Goffe

Galerie Lelong & Co. held a conversation on the occasion of Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum’s first solo exhibition in New York, ‘I have withheld much more than I have written’.

Elsa Gramcko: The Invisible Plot of Things

A comprehensive survey of Gramcko’s artistic practice from the mid-1950s through the mid-1970s

Joydeb Roaja’s solo exhibition at Jhaveri Contemporary

View installation images of Joydeb Roaja’s solo and access the exhibition essay written by Diana Campbell

I have withheld much more than I have written

This exhibition features new works including a large installation and a suite of paintings.

New movements for Global South galleries

We take a look at three influential galleries that have opened distinctive spaces at home and across continents to contextualise the artists that they represent in different ways, expanding their audiences.

Sunil Gupta’s latest solo exhibition titled ‘Cruising’

Gupta explores the nature of conflict as expression and modality, engaging with historical, geographical and socio-political narratives that yield powerfully discursive, personally resonant and at times playful calls to action, enriching post-modern queer theory through his expressionist politics. SOUTH SOUTH interviewed the artist to find out about each series on show.

The 24th São Paulo Biennial

Known as one of the best Biennials ever made, the “Biennial of Anthropophagy” had as general curator Paulo Herkenhoff and as assistant curator Adriano Pedrosa.

OMR’s recently formed cultural space LAGO/ALGO appoints Jérôme Sans as creative director

LAGO/ALGO is a new living and cultural hub located in the heart of the Chapultepec forest, the green lung of Mexico city and the largest urban park worldwide. Learn more about it through our interview with its creative director.

Ground Control: a solo by the late Kanishka Raja

Acutely erudite in music and equally conversant in literature, politics, philosophy and history, he was an artist who could lead the viewer to enter his work from different points of view.

Experimenter present Kallol Datta’s second solo at the gallery titled Volume 3 Issue 2

For Volume 3 Issue 2 , Datta roots his interest through exploration of sculptural forms constructed in textiles, from the native wear of the Late Showa Period in Japan and old Indian sarees, both made between 1945 – 1989.

Artist Mohamed Otaybi’s solo: The Lost Paradise

This exhibition at Circle Art Gallery demonstrates artist Mohamed Otaybi extensive knowledge of painting and his intimate understanding of the evolution of life in Sudan.

STPI’s 2022 Annual Special Exhibition ‘Second Movement’

For STPI’s 2022 Annual Special Exhibition ‘Second Movement’ they present a spectacular showcase of 41 works by 21 artists from their past two decades of creative collaborations.

Radhika Khimji at Venice

Curator Aisha Stoby identified Khimji as one of Oman’s pioneers, alongside Anwar Sonja, Hassan Meer, Budoor Al Riyami and Raiya Al Rawahi, highlighting the significance of her presence in the pavilion. SOUTH SOUTH interviewed the artist to find out more about her practice and the work on show at Venice.

documenta fifteen

Through an exploration Global South-based collectives contributing to documenta fifteen see the emphasis on people, community and exchange that is the central component of this year’s edition.

An introduction to artist Patrick Alston

Alston’s work forms a reflection on socio-politics, identity, language and the psychology of color. SOUTH SOUTH invited the artist to share more about his practice through a self-analysis of his work.

BAJO EL SOL at Travesía Cuatro

The exhibition focuses on the bodily potentials “of” and “in” the participating artists’ works as instruments to deconstruct the processes of artistic creation from a Eurocentric system and from the language of art.

Jose Dávila at Museum Haus Konstruktiv

Alongside selected new paintings, a multitude of sculptural works are presented, which Dávila combines to produce surprising ensembles of works while conscientiously engaging with the museum’s architectural givens.

Roberto Gil de Montes in Venice

The artist is one of the two Mexican artists selected by curator Cecilia Alemani for the 59th International Art Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia joining a list of 213 artists on show this year.

Tangled Hierarchy in Southampton

The exhibition at John Hansard Gallery centres on a collection of five humble yet remarkable used envelopes addressed to Mahatma Gandhi.

Global South focus in Venice: The Milk of Dreams

Taking SOUTH SOUTH’s departure point of the Global South being a political term rather than a strictly geographical term, we take a look at a few of the artists from SOUTH SOUTH’s community of galleries that offer a perspective from or related to the Global South.

Jitish Kallat: Order of Magnitude

The show presents a wide selection of Kallat’s works and highlights his mastery as a multidisciplinary artist.

The Indian in Drum magazine in the 1950s

This article is an edited version of the ‘Introduction’ to the book ‘The Indian in Drum magazine in the 1950s’ (2008) by the author that followed the photographic exhibition by the same title he curated (2006), which toured museums in South Africa (2006-2011).

Mohamed Ahmed Ibrahim represents UAE in Venice

Curated by Maya Allison, this presentation shows a major new work by Emirati artist, and is accompanied by a monographic book publication, chronicling the artist’s work at the vanguard of the UAE’s art community over nearly four decades.

Conversations on Tomorrow

The show explores ideas of our shared future through personal narratives, lived experiences and sensorial encounters.

Revel in the emotional theatre of an inner world with Anju Dodiya’s first-ever London solo

Taking place on the ground floor of Frieze’s space at No. 9 Cork Street, in the heart of London’s Mayfair, the exhibition will feature a curated selection of Dodiya’s celebrated painted mattresses and watercolours along with photo-collage works.

Exploring the practice of Dakar-based artist Aliou Diack

Having moved from his place of birth Sidi Bougou, in the Mbour region, to the heart of the city Dakar, Aliou Diack has held his relationship with nature close to his heart. In fact, it has allowed him to view the city as a result of the natural environment and continues to expand viewers’ understandings of the natural world.

Unpacking Seher Shah’s latest solo: Notes from a City Unknown

Shah’s current solo unpacks the threads woven between her thematic interests while representing a transformative period for the artist.

Jackie Karuti’s work invites audiences to stretch their imagination

Jackie Karuti’s work asks audiences to stretch their imagination, borrowing from and referencing the current and historical circumstances but offering avenues for configuring other worlds.

Rele Gallery – a dynamic contemporary art space promoting African artists

Rele Gallery is an arts space that is determined to build the audiences and opportunities for emerging and less established artists from Africa and its diaspora.

Travesía Cuatro gives voice to the Global South on its own terms with video series Bajo el Sol

With this project the gallery highlights the importance of enabling conversations across disciplines and creating a space to highlight the pathways of connection, practice-building and narrative embodiment that exists in individual and collective practices across the Global South.

Vivan Sundaram’s exhibition titled ‘Gagawaka: Making Strange’

This exhibition of wearable art was produced in association with fashion designer Pratima Pandey and with the assistance of Tanmay Gupta. Read the exhibition concept and view the installation and performance images.

The Seventh Edition of Colomboscope: Language is Migrant

This edition embraced thoughts and existences regarding hybridity, diasporic identities, interconnectedness, embodied narratives and memory.

Vivan Sundaram’s solo exhibition titled ‘Trash’

Vivan Sundaram’s exhibition, ‘Trash’, develops a theme that he has engaged since 1997. Based on the economy and aesthetics of second-hand goods and urban waste, ‘Trash’ recalls Sundaram’s installation, ‘Great Indian Bazaar’ (1997) and carries over parts of his large exhibition ‘living.it.out.in.delhi’ (2005).

WITNESS: Afro Perspectives from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection

Guest curated by Zimbabwean curator Tandazani Dhlakama, Assistant Curator at Zeitz MOCAA, in collaboration with Pérez Collection curators Patricia M. Hanna and Anelys Alvarez, the exhibition includes over 100 works by African and African Diaspora artists.

Ángela Gurría: Escuchar la materia

Read text by Daniel Garza Usabiaga in which they share the journey of Ángela Gurría’s practice. This text was shared alongside for the solo ‘Escuchar la materia’.

Alfredo Jaar: The Rwanda Project on show at Zeitz MOCAA

Largely derived from investigations and photojournalistic field research in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, this exhibition seeks to investigate how one can engage with trauma as an outsider and also serves as a critique to the world’s indifference and a lack of global visibility to the atrocities in Rwanda at that time.

Ana Mendieta – La tierra habla (The Earth Speaks)

The solo exhibition ‘La tierra habla’ followed Mendieta’s journey to three different sites in Cuba: Jaruco, Varadero, and Guanabo. Following the completion of her now well-known ‘Silueta Series’ (1973–80), the artist’s works in Cuba demonstrate an evolving, more sculpturally-inclined practice as well as her increasing comfort with working on a grander scale.

SOUTH SOUTH x El Espacio 23 Brunch

SOUTH SOUTH’s first physical event celebrates its community and the news of its inaugural curatorial residency.

Unsettled Objects – an exhibition considering artworks as active agents of an inclusive collective imagination

‘Unsettled Objects’ is a show that draws on work from the Sharjah Art Foundation Collection, and holds at its core an interrogation of exhibition making by considering what it means to decolonise the imagination. SOUTH SOUTH interviewed the exhibition’s curator, Dr. Omar Kholeif, to tease out the thematic threads of this interrogation and unpack his curatorial gestures.

Taro Urashima’s Space Odyssey

‘Taro Urashima’s Space Odyssey’ marked the artist’s 10th solo presentation at MUJIN-TO Production. In this exhibition, Yagi presented a new body of work reflecting on perceptions of time in a world affected by Covid-19.

Experimenter Curators’ Hub 2021 – a platform for developing and sustaining discourse

The 2021 Experimenter Curators’ Hub sees a wide variety of cultural practitioners share their work and their thoughts on community, collaboration and exhibition-making.

I Wanna Rock Lefatshe

Emerging South African artists Malebona Maphutse and Natalie Paneng share their created worlds through digital media, sculpture and painting.

African Mobilities 2.0

African Mobilities 2.0 is the second iteration of a project conceptualised and curated by Dr. Mpho Matsipa. This project explores African Architecture and Mobility.

Scratched Surfaces, as Diamond against Crystal

This exhibition was Carlos Garaicoa’s debut exhibition at Goodman Gallery, London. Garaicoa is one of Cuba’s most significant contemporary artists. Through a multidisciplinary approach, Garaicoa addresses issues of culture and politics with a reflexive lens into architecture, urbanism and history.

Cosmic Curiosities

In this new show Chati Coronel applies her passion for the timeless study of the stars to a vigorous rumination on modern existence. Marga Ortigas shares more on the artist’s latest works.

‘Things that came to light’ by Gary-Ross Pastrana

This is a new exhibition by Gary-Ross Pastrana and marks his eighth solo presentation with SILVERLENS. Cocoy Lumbao reflects on the show and the artist’s practice.

She Bad Bad

The title for the show describes female photographers whose work re-imagines conceptual works of art through lived experiences. Curator Fulufhelo Mobadi shares the details for her curatorial approach and the podcast connected to the exhibition.

eBhish’ by Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose

eBhish’ is a solo exhibition by Luvuyo Equiano Nyawose (b.1994, eThekwini, South Africa) presented at blank projects from 22 July – 21 August 2021. Through his work Nyawose is contributing to a “contemporary archive of black life ebhish’, one with humanising, tender and intimate moments…”. Read the full text by the artist.

Concert From Bangladesh

‘Concert from Bangladesh’ is a collaborative mixed reality music concert, using cutting edge technology to take audiences on a virtual audio-visual journey through Bangladesh’s past and present, encompassing mystical Baul singers from rural Kushtia, experimental electronics and hip hop from the streets of Dhaka.

Remembering artist Arturo Luz

In addition to building and intensifying his own practice, Luz was dedicated to sharing the work of local arts and asserting the Filipino art landscape within the global art world. Reflect on his work through images from the 2013 exhibition ‘ARTURO LUZ: The Painter As Photographer’.

Reflections on the artistic practice of Fiza Khatri

On 27 May 2021, in relationship with the exhibition ‘Sailoon and Other Stories’ (on view through July 31) curator Aziz Sohail began an email exchange with Fiza Khatri. Both are from the city of Karachi and have known each other as friends, colleagues and a part of a shared community over the last five years.

META foundation

META foundation, formed in 2020, aims to assist artists in building their careers and providing opportunities to learn skills, exhibit their work and access a variety of audiences. SOUTH SOUTH interviewed the director of META foundation Sara Hallatt to find out more about the goals of the foundation and its current programming.

En Mal D’Archive – Memory Revisited

This curatorial project considered the idea of the archive and archival practices. The project was a collaboration between between CoCulture and Dawlaty Institute’s programme ‘Preserving the Oral History of Syria’.

Land of Sequels

Dream-like figures and distorted structures morph into one another in the work of young artist Nada Baraka, inviting the viewer to open up the parameters of what the imagination allows. ‘Land of Sequels’ is Baraka’s second solo at Gypsum gallery and builds on her first show ‘Cosmic Truths and Tales to be Told’. SOUTH SOUTH interviewed the artist to unpack the inspiration for her recent body of work.

Portals, Stories, and Other Journeys

The exhibition ‘Portals, Stories, and Other Journeys’ stems from Asia Art Archive’s research since 2014 into the personal archive of the late Hong Kong–based artist Ha Bik Chuen (1925–2009). The curator for the show, Michelle Wong, invited artists to respond to the artist’s archive, stretching the possibilities of archival work. In this interview Wong shares details about the research on Ha Bik Chuen and the conceptualisation of the exhibition.

Home Works 1

In 2002, the first edition of the Home Works Forum invited artists, writers and thinkers to explore the notion of dislocation amidst the current geo-political and economic climate of the Arab region.

Contemplating the act of reflection through the work of Phumlani Ntuli

Multidisciplinary artist Phumlani Ntuli explores the notion of reflection intertwined with his overarching thematic investigations of black futurity and the archive in his recent solo exhibition at the Bag Factory in Johannesburg.

Dust, thirst, loneliness, waiting, fatigue, life

Cape Town-based journalist, critic and editor Sean O’Toole has a new delightfully rich self-published chapbook sprinkled with whimsy and phrases that ignite one’s mind’s eye, as only his writing could.

Nossa Voz

Nossa Voz is a publication by the São Paulo-based cultural centre Casa do Povo. Translated to “Our Voice” in English, the newspaper existed alongside the institution from 1947 to 1964, with texts in Yiddish and Portuguese and an editorial profile aligned with left wing ideals. It was shut down by the military dictatorship, which forced editor-in-chief Hersch Schechter and other contributors into exile. Relaunched in 2014, it continues to dialogue with its historical premises while rethinking its editorial directives.

Contemporary Female Identities in the Global South exhibition

Held at the Joburg Contemporary Art Foundation, ‘Contemporary Female Identities in the Global South’ was the first exhibition in a three-year curatorial programme with a thematic focus aimed at mapping out a generational genealogy of female identities within the Global South.

Serpentine Pavilion 2021 designed by Counterspace

The 20th Serpentine Pavilion designed by the Johannesburg-based architecture studio Counterspace, opened on 11 June and will be available for viewing until 17 October 2021. The Pavilion references the architecture of markets, restaurants, places of worship, bookshops and local cultural institutions that are particularly significant to diasporic and cross-cultural communities. The commission extends into the city for the first time since the programme started in 2000.

Bag Factory 30 Years: So Far, The Future

The Bag Factory Factory celebrates three decades of their history and legacy as a non-profit contemporary visual arts organisation with an exhibition based on their art collection and archive.

The Inner Lives of Islands

Individually and collectively the works on show, through sculptural, filmic and installation-based interventions, reflect ideas of nationhood and diasporic identities from this region. SOUTH SOUTH interviewed the curator for the show Robbie Handcock to find out about his considerations for the show.

The 6th edition of the Marrakech Biennale | Not New Now

The 6th edition of the Marrakech Biennale intended to build on a longstanding history of Pan Afro-Arab unity, through critically investigating socio-political projects, cultural partnerships, and art movements that have led to many shared artistic tendencies.

3 Borders | Palais de Lomé

This exhibition was one of the 5 inaugural exhibitions at the opening of Palais de Lomé to the public in 2019

From Within and Without: The History of Haitian Photography

With the inclusion of a wide range of photographs from official images to family snapshots, this exhibition was the first comprehensive museum survey of photography in Haiti with nearly 350 works.

22nd Biennale of Sydney: NIRIN

Under the artistic direction of acclaimed Indigenous Australian artist, Brook Andrew, the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, titled NIRIN, was an artist- and First Nations-led endeavour, presenting an expansive exhibition of contemporary art and events presented across Sydney and Melbourne, and globally via digital platforms that connect local communities and global networks.

From Here to Eternity: Sunil Gupta. A Retrospective

The show invites audiences to experience temporal and epistemic shifts translated through the affective visual delicacies produced through Gupta’s optical lexicon.

Devi Art Foundation – expanding access to artwork and art practice

The Foundation emerged from collectors Lekha Poddar and her son Anupam Poddar expanding their personal interests in art to facilitating wider public engagement with artistic practice and curatorial interventions.

Queer Anticipation: Sunil Gupta, Prem Sahib, and Jake Grewal in Conversation with Dr. Natasha Bissonauth

On 19 May 2021 art historian Dr. Natasha Bissonauth moderated a conversation between artists Sunil Gupta, Prem Sahib, and Jake Grewal. In this discussion the three London-based artists shared insights into their individual practices and offered an entryway into thinking and seeing through queer South Asian diasporic aesthetics.