Louna Sbou is a curator, mentor and cultural entrepreneur. She is the director of Oyoun in Berlin, the anti-disciplinary arts centre with a particular focus on queer-feminist, decolonial and class-critical perspectives.
Her lived experience and unconventional journey into artistic and cultural entrepreneurship allowed her to actively engage in shaping contemporary curatorship while practicing a non-Western approach to holacratic, resilient leadership, transnational solidarity and collective-making.
She has curated numerous exhibitions, performances, and interdisciplinary festivals including Un:Imaginable in Rwanda and Bosnia (2022/2023) with Hope Azeda, Moudjahidate* (2022) with Nadja Makhlouf, Maya Inés Touam and Sarah El Hamed, Embodied Temporalities in Berlin, Birmingham, Prague and Lesbos (2022) with Ahmed Baba, Gugulethu Duma, Sujatro Ghosh, Backbone (2021) with Mazen Khaddaj.
Louna worked as director of be’kech in Germany (2016-2020), independent curator in Japan (2016-2019), program director at STATION Beirut with late artist Leila Alaoui and Nabil Canaan in Lebanon (2013-2015), and director of tunesisters agency across the EU and SWANA region (2002-2018) – collaborating with Seloua Luste Boulbina, Dr. Tiffany Florvil, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Mary Maggic, Massive Attack, Alsarah & the Nubatones, Donatella Bernardi, Renata Salecl, Panashe Chigumadzi, Lamin Fofana, Tewa Barnosa, and more.
She has been serving as member of advisory board and mentor for the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EU) since 2011 as well as numerous researchers and creatives as part of the German Institute for International Affairs (ifa), UNESCO Tandem Program, Weltoffenes Berlin (Cultural Senate), and more.
Recently, Louna held lectures at Sophia Univeritsy Tokyo, Museum at Contemporary Arts Taipei, West Den Haag Museum, Sandberg Instituut, Transform Marseille, Ubumuntu Kigali, Berliner Festspiele, Caisa Helsinki, Performing Arts Festival, University of Fine Arts Berlin, Bozcaada Festival and won a number of fellowships in Japan, Germany, Spain and Greece. Most recently, she won the Changemaker for Democracy fellowship 2024.
She holds a master degree from University of Wales (Entrepreneurship, 2014) and University of Applied Sciences Südwestfalen (Law, 2012).
Louna takes no bullshit though afraid of heights, a mother of two and vegan since 1991.