Crowning 20 years of its far-reaching Mentors & Protégés programme – in which leaders in a multitude of disciplines are partnered with aspiring creatives for a year-long exercise in shared learning – the recently concluded Rolex Arts Festival was not only the first to be live-streamed by the brand but leaves its own temporary imprint on its host city of Athens.
Besides luring numerous high-profile mentors, including William Kentridge, Joan Jonas, Sir David Chipperfield and Robert Wilson, to the Greek capital, Rolex supplemented the four-day festival of talks, panel discussions and performances with a week-long programme of 12 public talks and events that accessed nine partner venues across Athens. Each had been designed in collaboration with leaders in the local arts community to highlight the continuing artistic legacy of many of its former protégés – referred to as fellows – and in some instances the cross-disciplinary creative partnerships that have followed on from their participation in the programme.
Matthias Weischer's work, part of the Rolex Arts Festival Visual Arts, Group Exhibition ΕΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens 2023
In the visual arts, a group exhibition is currently showing at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (until 4 June), featuring works by Sammy Baloji, Alejandro Cesarco, Masanori Handa, Nicholas Hlobo, Mateo Lopez, Thao Hguyen Phan, Camila Rodriguez Triana and Matthias Weischer.
And in the field of architecture, a novel group exhibition by five fellows who comment on each others’ work can be seen until this Sunday (June 4th) at the Benaki Gallery (Pireos 138). Encompassing projects by Sahel Alhariya, Gloria Cabral, Mariam Issofou Kamara and Yang Zhao, the programme of short films is accompanied by gestural objects supplied by each architect to reveal more about their approach – in keeping with the resolutely global outlook of Rolex’s Arts Initiative, one that in this instance encompasses Switzerland, Jordan, Paraguay, Niger and China.
Nicholas Hlobo work in the Rolex Arts Festival Visual Arts, Group Exhibition ΕΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens 2023
Installation view of the Rolex Arts Festival Visual Arts, Group Exhibition ΕΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens 2023
Installation view of the Rolex Arts Festival architecture exhibition at the Benaki Gallery, encompassing projects by Sahel Alhariya, Gloria Cabral, Mariam Issofou Kamara and Yang Zhao
The 11th and current cycle of the Mentors & Protégés programme of the Rolex Arts Initiative is currently underway.
The Rolex Arts Festival events can be reviewed on the Rolex website. rolex.org
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