01The opportunity
El Anatsui, among the most celebrated living artists, honoured with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Biennale and the Hyundai Commission in Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, is establishing his European studio in Portugal.
This is the founding operational appointment. It is a senior, trusted role at the centre of building the studio's European ecosystem, working directly with the artist and alongside his other studios internationally.
The first year is a builder's brief: mapping and engaging Portugal's finest fabricators and craft workshops, supporting the search for studio, storage and living space, establishing logistics and art-handling arrangements, and setting up the daily operation of the studio.
The studio's location within Portugal is still being decided, and the Studio Manager will be part of deciding it.
The role is conceived to grow. The right person becomes the artist's right hand in Europe, managing the studio, its team and its programme. It will suit someone with an eye as well as a system.
02Why ANO, and why Portugal
ANO Institute of Arts and Knowledge has spent fifteen years building cultural infrastructure in Ghana, from the Mobile Museum to the Cultural Encyclopaedia. It is now opening a satellite in Portugal, and this studio is its first project here.
El Anatsui was one of the first artists ANO worked with, more than twenty years ago. The studio will coordinate with his other studios internationally, host a fellowship programme with a Portuguese university, and build a working network with Portugal's makers, foundries and craft workshops.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to build on the coast of what is now Ghana, at Elmina in 1482.
Five centuries later, this studio is an attempt to come back into that relation and remake it on different terms: equal standing, mutual respect, curiosity, and work made together.
03Responsibilities
- Build and manage a directory of Portugal's best fabricators and specialist workshops: foundries and metal casting, stone, ceramics, clay, wood, cork, industrial engineering and conservation. Commission tests and manage production relationships.
- Source and acquire materials. Establish supplier relationships and cost and lead-time knowledge across the country.
- Support the property programme: scout and pre-assess studio, warehouse, secure art storage and residential options, attend viewings, and coordinate with agents, engineers and lawyers.
- Coordinate international shipping, art handling, insurance and secure storage to museum standards.
- Set up and run studio operations: budgets, schedules, records, maintenance, health and safety.
- Assist with installations, exhibition logistics and visits by institutions, galleries and collaborators.
- Support the artist practically during Portugal visits, including driving and itinerary logistics in the first phase.
- Over time, recruit and supervise studio assistants, including a fellowship programme with Portuguese institutions.
04Profile
- You have worked inside an artist's studio. This matters to us more than anything else on this list. That might be as a studio manager or assistant, as a fabricator, or as an artist who has worked in someone else's studio alongside your own. Senior roles in the studio of an internationally recognised artist are strongly preferred. If you have not worked in a studio but believe you can do this work, say why in your letter. This is not an entry-level position.
- Artists are welcome to apply. A practising artist who is organised, resourceful and content to put their hands to someone else's work would suit this well, as would someone from the production or administrative side with a real artistic sensibility. We are looking for judgement about how things are made, not only competence at managing them.
- You are a finder. Much of the first year is tracking down the right foundry, the right stone yard, the right building, the right person, often without a map and often in Portuguese. It suits someone who enjoys the search.
- Fluent English and Portuguese, both essential. French is an asset.
- Practical understanding of how things get made across several of: metal casting, welding, ceramics, stone, wood, large-scale assembly. Depth in a few of these matters more than coverage of all of them, and curiosity with the capacity to learn quickly counts for a great deal.
- Working knowledge of art handling, packing, shipping and insurance standards.
- Highly organised, practical and discreet. Comfortable building something from nothing.
- Full driving licence, own car preferred, based in Portugal or willing to relocate there.
- An existing network in the Portuguese art, craft or fabrication world is a strong advantage.
05Terms
- Contract
- Full-time, permanent, following a probationary period
- Start date
- October 2026
- Based
- Portugal, with travel throughout the country
- Salary
- Competitive and commensurate with experience
06How to apply
Please send the following three items:
- A CV
- A short letter describing relevant experience, including the specific artists, studios or workshops you have worked with
- Two referees
Subject line: Studio Manager, El Anatsui European Studio
Applications close Friday 28 August 2026. Early applications are encouraged and reviewed on a rolling basis.
07Process
- 28 August
- Applications close
- 1 to 10 September
- First interviews, held online
- Mid September
- Final candidates meet the artist in person in Portugal
- October 2026
- Appointment begins. A later start can be accommodated for a candidate serving a notice period.