Southern Panoramas

>> Photo tour through the exhibition
Showing works by more than 70 of the participants

Artworks by 101 artists comprise an overview of contemporary production in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania.

Featuring videos, performances, installations, objects, publications, paintings, photographs and other artistic experiments, Southern Panoramas aims to put art from the worldʼs geopolitical South in the limelight.

The 101 participants include prominent names on the international scene such as the Lebanese Akram Zaatari, the Australian Shaun Gladwell, the Argentinian Marcello Mercado, and the Brazilians Marcellvs L. and Cinthia Marcelle, as well as others who are only starting to exhibit internationally - such as Gianfranco Foschino (Chile), also featured in the Latin-American Pavilion of Venice Biennale 2011.
See the >> complete list of artists

Participants have been selected from among 1,295 entrants from all regions of the Southern Hemisphere. "We have expanded our accepted languages and different regions are represented, all of which allows us to provide a true overview of contemporary production from our target area," says Solange Farkas.

Though diverse in their strategies and languages, the works stay close to key contemporary issues, expressing concerns that are not limited to the visual arts realm. Some set out to map out and catalogue subjective aspects; others feature experiments that subvert classical genres. A third set of works is characterized by its political content, and yet a fourth one features devices that alter our gaze and propose new views.

Danilo Santos de Miranda, Director of SESC São Paulo, points to the importance of Southern Panoramas and the large volume of entries for it as signs of a process relating to the very dissemination of arts. "Thus, all of the effort put into our educational action, which should last through the whole exhibition, is focused on the activity SESC dedicates itself to, seeking to make as large an audience as possible familiar with contemporary art and its players."

Open Studio Prize

Southern Panoramas includes four works of art that were commissioned by the Festival via the Videobrasil Open Studio Prize, a contest for young São Paulo based artistsʼ projects. The works were developed from April to July at Casa Tomada, a venue for artistic production, reflection and interaction in the city, under the guidance of artists, curators, and researchers.

Jury

The 17th Festival jury is comprised of Brazilian critic Rodrigo Moura, the curator of Instituto Inhotim; Nigerian curator Bisi Silva, who heads the Center for Contemporary Art Lagos; Spanish curator Agustín Pérez Rubio, director of the MUSAC, in Castilla; the Argentinian Gabriela Salgado, independent curator with specialism in Latin America and co-curator of 2 Thessaloniki Biennale, 2009; and Bolivian artist Raquel Schwartz.

Prizes and residencies

Grand Prize:
Akram Zaatari (Lebanon)

Artistic Residency Prizes:

FAAP - São Paulo, Brazil:
- Moran Shavit (Israel / Germany)
- Natasha Mendonca (India)

Sacatar - Itaparica, Brazil:
- Claudia Joskowicz (Bolivia / USA)

Kiosko - Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia:
- Adriano Costa (Brazil)
- Liu Wei (China)

Videoformes - Clermont-Ferrand, France:
- Gabriel Mascaro (Brazil)

Wbk Vrije Academie - The Hague, Netherlands:
- Dirceu Maués (Brazil)

pARTage - Flic-En-Flac, Mauritius:
- Carla Zaccagnini (Argentina / Brazil)

Honorable Mentions:
- Sebastián Diaz Morales (Argentina / Netherlands)
- Eder Santos (Brazil)
- Milton Machado and Cacá Vicalvi (both Brazil)

Trophy

The Pernambuco state-born artist Tunga signs the 17th Festival trophy, an audio visual object he reinvented using elements from his own visual repertoire. A bottle of yellow fluid, amber and quartz stones held in by a wire mesh surround a still-operating video camera, and interfere with its framing. One of the most widely nationally and internationally recognized contemporary Brazilian artists, Tunga has featured in the biennials of Venice and São Paulo.

>> List of artists

>> Southern Panoramas Seminar