Name
Mrs Isabel Raabe
Country of residence
Germany
Occupation
curator and cultural producer
BIO
In my work I am interested in curatorial and artistic strategies that disrupt Western perspectives and traditions of thought. In my projects I want to show decolonial perspectives and new narratives. I work interdisciplinary in the fields of fine arts, dance and performance, film and literature. I describe myself as a generalist, not a specialist.
I studied dance (in Berlin and New York) and later cultural management in Berlin. Together with Franziska Sauerbrey, I founded and managed the independent büro für kulturelle angelegenheiten (office for cultural affairs) in Berlin for 12 years. We designed and produced cultural projects for the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the Federal Agency for Civic Education and many other cultural institutions. During this time they always developed and curated our own art projects on topics that moved us, mostly in an international context: exhibitions, multimedia performances and theatre festivals. In 2014, I (together with Franziska Sauerbrey) initiated the project “RomArchive – Digital Archive of Sinti and Roma“ (www.romarchive.eu), which was funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation for five years, went online in 2019 and won the European Cultural Heritage Award and the Grimme Online Award. RomArchive makes Romani arts and cultures visible. Roma themselves tell their history and determine the collections and counter stereotypes and prejudices with facts and new narratives.