© Elizabeth Youngman
I am a 36-year-old art historian, curator and cultural manager based in Odemira, a small town in the beautiful south of Portugal (Alentejo). I initially completed a master’s degree in art history, literature and philosophy in Munich and later a master’s degree in cultural management in Lüneburg.
What do you do and for how long?
After various internships and assistant positions, my professional career of more than 15 years has taken me from Berlin, where I worked as an artist liaison and assistant in a large gallery, to Leipzig, where I worked as a curator at the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig and as a project manager and editor for an art book publisher. I was also active in the Kunstverein gegenwart e.V., an independent art association in Leipzig.
I am currently in the process of founding my own art association in Odemira, which combines an art space with an artist-in-residence programme for national and international artists.
View of Odemira ©Elizabeth Youngman
What are your main themes?
The focus of my work and research has always been primarily on contemporary art. As contemporary art is always directly linked to the present, I am also interested in themes from current popular culture. But today’s political trends and global developments, such as the climate crisis, are also relevant to my work. I am concerned with questions of environmental sustainability in the arts and cultural sector. What can art do? How can or must cultural professionals act?
What cause or charity do you support?
Três Sacadas, my art association, pursues an ecologically sustainable approach. The travel of a large number of participants is inevitably part of our future artist-in-residence programme. I see it as our social responsibility to make the operation and programming of our cultural venue as sustainable as possible.
Who are your influences?
The artists I work with, their views of things and the world, their perspectives and approaches to themes.
A quote that you like
“Creativity takes courage.” – Henri Matisse
Três Sacadas’s website tres-sacadas.pt
Connect with Três Sacadas on Instagram www.instagram.com/tres.sacadas