Lost & Found Agency

Domaine de Beaulieu – Afterlife: a talk by Sophie von Olfers

November 26, 11 am ET / 12.30 pm NL / 5 pm CET

Fogo Island Art’s digital program Lost & Found Agency presented Domaine de Beaulieu–Afterlife. In the talk, Sophie von Olfers introduced the history of the rural estate where she currently lives, her involvement with it, and potential plans for the future. The model of Domaine de Beaulieu, which comprises agriculture, tourism, an e-commerce business, a weaving and design studio, and an art association, resembles similar structures at play within the Shorefast Foundation, parent organization of Fogo Island Arts. Sophie discussed what Beaulieu could be and how it might function as a socio-economic model of which we need more of today.

Sophie von Olfers works in contemporary art, agriculture, tourism, and the spirits business.  Since 2017, she lives at the rural estate Logis de Beaulieu in Poullignac, France, with her family. Between 2010 and 2014 Sophie von Olfers was in charge of the Kunsthalle Portikus in Frankfurt as its curator. Prior to this position she was based at MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, where she curated the extensive survey exhibition “Not In Fashion. Photography and fashion in the 90s”. From 2006 to 2009, Sophie worked at Witte de With Center for contemporary art in Rotterdam. During this time she also coordinated the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2007, curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen. She has edited and published numerous accompanying books and catalogues. Sophie von Olfers studied Visual Culture in Preston, UK, and Lyon, France, and Curating at Goldsmiths College London. In 2011 she was a guest professor in the photography department at the Universität für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna. Since 2018, she is a member of the board of the FRAC Poitou Charentes.

Sophie co-founded the blog and e-commerce business Cognac-Expert.com with her brother Max in 2009. Today, the company is the leading website for Cognac connoisseurs internationally, offering over 1000 Cognacs for sale while supporting local producers and family-run houses.

In its third generation, Logis de Beaulieu has a tourism business renting out vacation rentals to guests in the summer months. It furthermore finances itself through organic farming on 120 hectares (300 acres) of land. Logis de Beaulieu also houses Atelier Beaulieu, a weaving studio run by Sophie’s husband Brian Mann.

Domaine de Beaulieuis a non-profit association created to host artefacts ex-situ on various locations on the property–inside buildings as well as in nature. I’m interested in creating a situation for works to exist in a kind of afterlife, following their exhibition elsewhere. All works that make it to Domaine de Beaulieu exist. Instead of being destroyed or stored away, they may exist here–perhaps in another form–and may be visited, too.

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