"With Social Muscle Club, initially I got a collaboration grant with Goethe Institute, which required us to include European artists in order to secure the funding. And then Pro Helvetia supported two Swiss artists. I was very transparent with the artists from Europe: 'You're getting your flights and your accommodation covered, but the per diems are going to be used to pay for the South African artists that we work with. And to make sure that we have things like beer and food for the opening.' There is this idea that when European artists get funding to come to South Africa, they basically just get a great holiday. I was like, 'What the fuck? No.' The initial funding I had for Alma Mater didn't have the constraint that European artists needed to be involved because it was from two private funds. But it was not a lot, it was 7000€."
– Juliana Irene Smith

As part of her ongoing project Social, curator Khanya Mashabela collects oral histories of artist-led project spaces in South Africa to complement a growing archive of associated printed matter, photographs, and digital assets collated through an open call to local arts practitioners.