So diverse, so necessary

"Her life is her art" can be read on Lou Philipps' social media profile. A statement that – and this becomes clear after the first few minutes of our conversation – could not be more fitting. She is a passionate art lover through and through. A passion that has driven her since early childhood. "Even in kindergarten, I attended art classes with my sisters." Little wonder though, Lou grew up surrounded by creative minds. "We have a creative family – artists, film producers and a fashion designer." The rest of her education was actually the classic trajectory of someone who would later become an art connoisseur – with a brief stopover in a completely different field.

From art via nutritional sciences back to art

After her successful graduation as a student of an E section – "There was no question for me not to go to an E" – Lou moves to Vienna. "I wanted to study art history, but all my teachers advised me against it. This demotivated me a lot and I decided to study nutritional sciences." However, after a few months came disillusionment. "I quickly realised that it wasn't right for me. That's not what my heart was beating for."

The passion that was in her from an early age finally led her to study art history. Internships followed at various institutions such as the Kunst Haus Wien, the Centre national de l'audiovisuel (CNA) in Dudelange and the Cercle Artistique de Luxembourg (CAL). "I knew that I wanted to get to know every field to find out what I wanted to do later on. I always knew I wanted to work with artists and artworks", she says. "At some point, I realized that this process of planning exhibitions really appealed to me."