CURATOR IN RESIDENCE

CURATOR IN RESIDENCE

I am offering young upcoming curators, experienced curators and other cultural practitioners a 20-hectare olive farm in Portugal to architect and execute rotating off-city performances, exhibitions, or alternative art events. The goal is to extend the artistic mandate and create a playground for new artistic formats, bypassing the traditional, city-centric art market by converting this land, its natural topography, and its abandoned architectural structures into a permanent and alternative site for contemporary art, site-specific installations, and performances.

🦄 VISION Curators are the gatekeepers of culture—yet the academic and institutional pipelines producing them are also heavily gatekept, structurally exclusionary, and deeply tied to socioeconomic privilege. Independent, young, and marginalized curators are systematically squeezed out by the high costs of urban centers and a lack of independent infrastructure. My goal is to empower these curatorial voices, by handing them a high-stakes physical playground with spatial sovereignty. The idea is to push past traditional gallery dynamics to explore the very question of what art becomes—and what can be defined as art—when stripped of urban scaffolding and embedded in a living, working environment.

✍️ CONCEPT Dual-track open call model where curators are invited to design the spatial flow and execute rotational pop-up initiatives outside the urban matrix. Residents get free living space and studio, as well as indoor and outdoor stage for their curational vision, but have the operational and financial responsibility to stage the event and find public or private funding. * Academic Track: Partnering with Curatorial Master’s programs of art schools to offer the residency as an accredited, field-testing internship for postgraduate credits. * Independent Track: Experienced curators, especially non-formalized, self-taught curators who have successfully pulled off alternative exhibitions entirely without institutional backing.

⏰ DURATION Long format stays (8-16 weeks).

🌍 LOCATION 20 ha Olive Farm 5 km from Elvas, Alentejo The farm sits at a unique geopolitical crossroads—perched on a hill with panoramic views overlooking both Portugal and Spain. It is well connected: located just a 5-minute drive from the center of Elvas, 20 minutes from Badajoz, Spain (including its local domestic airport), and an easy 2-hour drive from Lisbon/Lisbon Airport via the A6 highway.

🌳 ABOUT THE SPACE When I stumbled upon this piece of land in 2021, it had been abandoned and neglected for decades and was more jungle than farm. After five years of clearing the wild, rehabilitating the buildings, and with the help of many other people, we have been able to breath new life into this abandoned land and its building. Out of the quietness of this work, the old has fallen away so the new can emerge. I have named this place Labirinto Eclético—an "Eclectic Labyrinth"—to honor the complex, winding path life can take and the wonderful hidden corners and spaces on this property.

🏡 INFRASTRCTURE The estate is a certified organic, traditional olival offering three distinct areas: * Barn: A 200 m² raw agricultural warehouse from the 1980s, perfect for indoor exhibitions, grit-textured installations, or dark-box media experiments. * Olive Grove: The negative space within 10 hectares of ancient, sculptural olive trees, challenging curators to design physical dialogues within a living landscape. * High Plain: 4 hectares of open plain with stunning views overlooking both Portugal and Spain. It is perfectly suited as an open-air arena for site-specific outdoor exhibitions, performances, or dance events during the dry Alentejo summer nights. * Main Farmhouse: The main building on the property is available to be leveraged for intimate salons, exhibition openings, dinners, and high-value cultural tourism events.

🌈 FORMATS Residency can be either entirely on-site, in form of a min. 8 week caretaker residency, or off-site. Even if the residency is conducted mostly on-line and off-site, you will have to travel to the farm for a kick off visit to get to know the space. All logistics of back an forth travel will be on you if you chose to conduct the residency remotely.

🧞‍♂️WHO CAN APPLY Experienced and upcoming curators and event organizers across a wide range of disciplines who have the conceptual maturity to curate a challenging landscape and the entrepreneurial experience to apply for funding and cover expenses. If you are not from Portugal you will need to prove that you have means to get funding from portuguese or non-portuguese institutions.

🪂 CURATIONAL FREEDOM Curational freedom is limited by the boundaries of what has been proposed in the initial application and the curator agreement, always respecting local laws, fire-hazard risks and neighbors interest and rights. As the owner of the property and responsible person for the economic entity processing not only funds but also legal liability, I always have the last word in what is an is not possible to be realized.

🏡 ON SITE RESIDENCE: SPACE & EXCHANGE If you chose the on site residency, your will have a 55m² loft-style side building with its own kitchen & bathroom, and a 12m2 studio, both with incredible views. You get free lodging but it is self-catered. While you can bring your partner or child, guests have to be announced and approved. Caretaking duties: As part of the on-site residency and in exchange for the free logding, you will handle light caretaking when I am away, such as feeding the resident cat 🐈, basic pool maintenance 🏊‍♂️, and keeping an eye on the property to report to me if the neighbors animals have trespassed (horses, goat, sheep) or if some other irregularities occur. House features: The farm is semi-off-grid but well connected & with great Wi-Fi. Features ancient olive trees, a pool, a pergola, shady arcades and absolute quiet. Solitude: When i am on the farm, I’d love to share some meals and show you the ins and outs of the farm and the region, but when I am away, you must be comfortable with solitude and the quiet meditation of nature to inspire your work. Much like a silent retreat; most of the time you will only have the plants and animals to talk to or listen to, especially during the periods when we are not on the farm. Neighbors are within visual and walking distance, so you are not completely isolated. Allergies: If you have cat allergies, don’t like cuddeling with cats, freak out when you see insects or other little animals, tend to get hay fever, or have similar nature related allergies, this residency might not be the right thing for you.

🤝 FINAL EVENT We will conclude the residency with a minimum one day to multi day event/exhibition of your choice. You will be asked to outline your initial idea for the event in the first stage of the application process, the idea can be refined though the various staged of the application and the residency, as you get a better understanding of the possibilities and limitations of the space.

👄 Minimum knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is mandatory to be able to conduct logistics and communication of final event.

🪂 LOGISTICS Nearest airports: Badajoz/Spain (35 min), or Lisbon/Portugal (2h). If you fly into Badajoz I can pick you up. If you fly into Lisbon, you will have to take the bus to Elvas and I can pick you up at the local bus station. Because we are 6 km from Elvas, this is not walking distance to town. If you don’t have your own car, I will provide an electric bike that you can use for the times that I am not there.

📫 APPLICATION LINK

Google Docs Sound of Silence | Artist Residency

The residency is not paid but I offer housing for the duration of the residency if need, on top of a 20 ha property for curation and a registered legal entity through which public and private funds can be applied for, and other revenues can be processed.

💶 ECONOMIC MODEL Part of the curational work is also defining the business model for funding the event, wether its though application of public grants or an event based income model. The event and its economic model will need to be researched an prepared throughout the residency. The event can be conducted at the end of a physical residency or at a later time but the artistic and economic concept need to be finalized throughout the physical residency. — If more funds can be generated than the production costs the curator will received part of the excess revenues on the basis of a revenue share model: * Any public grants (e.g., DGArtes, regional EU funds) or private cultural foundations secured will go toward artistic production, project costs, and specified curatorial execution fees. * All commercial revenue generated directly by our activities—including destination ticket sales, salon entries, art commissions, catalog sales, or leveraged tourism events—will be split on a pre-agreed percentage (after our core operating costs have been covered).

Phase 1: Expression of Interest (Deadline: June 20 2026) Send a digital pitch (PDF format, maximum 10 pages) via email to info@shermin.net. Your pitch should include:

• Curatorial Manifesto: Include a high level conceptual proposition of how to covert this specific Alentejo landscape and its buidlings and the residency into a cultural hub.
• Economic Strategy: Outlining how you intend to leverage a 20-hectare space and an existing legal entity to capture local, European, or private funding streams and event based revenues.
• Your Portfolio: Highlights of your past independent projects, alternative pop-ups, or site-specific curatorial work.

Phase 2: Interviews The applicants that get on the shortlist will be invited to an online interview. This round is specifically designed as a two-way street: it is your opportunity to ask me deep, nuanced questions about the legal entity, the property dynamics, and the operational realities before more specific curational, business or funding strategies are drafted.

Phase 3: Farm Visit Following the interviews, three finalists will be selected for a final, immersive assessment.

• You are invited to spend 2 nights on the farm with me (flexible, based on your availability).
• This on-site intensive allows you to physically inspect the barn, map out the olive grove, bounce ideas in real-time, and see how our visions mesh in the flesh.
• I will provide full accommodation, and meals on the farm, alongside a fixed travel stipend (up to €50 for domestic PT travel / up to €300 for EU travel) to offset your transport costs to Elvas.

Following the on-site intensive, the final long-term partner will be selected to co-design and manage the space.

Google Form Title:

Alentejo Decentralized Art Canvas – Curatorial Pitch (Stage 1)

Form Description:

Thank you for your interest in co-designing this off-city art and event ecosystem near Elvas. This first round is a low-stakes expression of interest designed to filter for experience, baseline spatial vision, and structural alignment. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a Phase 2 virtual dialogue to ask nuanced questions before any business strategies are drafted.

Section 1: Basic Information & Logistics (The Hard Filters)

Coach's Tip: Use these to immediately screen for location and baseline commitment before you waste time reading long manifestos.

1. Full Name / Collective Name
• [Short Answer]
2. Email Address
• [Short Answer]
3. Phone / WhatsApp Number
• [Short Answer]
4. Website / Digital Portfolio Link / Instagram Handle
• [Short Answer]
5. Where are you currently based?
• [Short Answer]
6. Geographic Commitment Check: This project is located in Elvas, Alentejo. If this collaboration develops into a long-term commitment, are you currently based in, or genuinely willing to relocate/frequently commute to the Elvas/Badajoz/Greater Alentejo area?
• [Multiple Choice]
• Yes, I am already based in the region.
• Yes, I am fully willing to relocate/commute for a long-term commitment.
• No, I am only looking for a remote or purely short-term residency setup.

Section 2: Conceptual & Spatial Vision

Coach's Tip: This tracks their immediate spatial intelligence. You are testing if they can visualize the relationship between the raw architecture and the landscape.

1. The Canvas Response: Having read the brief for the 20-hectare estate, how do you intuitively envision navigating or connecting the three distinct zones (the 1980s industrial barn, the 10 ha ancient olive grove, and the 4 ha high plain overlooking Spain)?
• [Paragraph]
2. The Decentralized Paradigm: How do you believe an autonomous, off-city cultural institution can offer a playground for new art forms today, break the boundaries between art and social space, and cultivate unexpected community encounters outside the urban matrix?
• [Paragraph]

Section 3: Professional Experience & The Economic Mindset

Coach's Tip: This is where you filter out the traditional "white-cube" curators who expect a fixed institutional salary, and screen in the entrepreneurial operators.

1. The DIY Track Record: Briefly describe one site-specific, independent, alternative, or "DIY mode" project you have previously executed. What was the biggest logistical or spatial challenge, and how did you solve it?
• [Paragraph]
2. The Economic Manager Mindset: This partnership operates on a space-share and revenue-share model where you will act as both the Artistic Director and the Economic Manager (leveraging the provided legal entity to secure grants, while driving commercial revenue via ticketed events, tourism salons, or commissions). What is your baseline approach or experience when it comes to capturing public/private funding or designing self-sustaining cultural events?
• [Paragraph]
3. The Existing Asset Integration: We have an active, long-format artist-in-residence occupying an outbuilding who handles light caretaking of the farm. How would you conceptually integrate this existing residency into your broader programming framework?
• [Paragraph]

Section 4: Document Upload

Coach's Tip: Ensure you toggle the "File upload" option here, setting the limit to 10MB or 100MB and restricting it to PDFs.

1. Curatorial Portfolio & CV Upload
• [File Upload]
• Max file size: 100 MB
• Allowed file types: PDF

How to use this folder in your Drive:

Once the applications start rolling in, Google Forms will automatically create a spreadsheet.

1. Look at Question 5 and 6 first. If they refuse to travel or relocate to the Alentejo, or are looking for a standard city salary, mark them red.
2. Read Question 10 (The Economic Mindset) next. If they express excitement or clear competence regarding managing budgets and chasing grants using your legal entity, move them to the top of your list for the Stage 2 Zoom interviews.

5. The Artist-in-Residency: One of the outbuildings on the farm is currently occupied by an artist participating in a long-format residency. As part of their exchange, this resident undertakes light caretaking activities on the farm (more info here). This residency is an active asset that can—and ideally should—be integrated into the broader curatorial and programming vision of the space.