Rolex Arts Initiative: Launch of Outcomes in Mexico City
In early December 2015, Mexico City will host celebration of collaborations of this year’s Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative mentorships.
In early December 2015, Mexico City will host celebration of collaborations of this year’s Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative mentorships. Outcomes of the collaborations will be presented in forms of choreographies, presentations, discussions, installations and lectures during Mexico City Arts Weekend.
In Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative programme, established and renowned artists in the fields of architecture, visual arts, dance, literature, music, theatre and film choose to mentor a promising young professional during a one-year period. During the year, the mentor and the protégé work at least six weeks together.
For mentoring cycle 2014–15, Swiss architect Peter Zumthor has guided Paraguayan architect Gloria Cabral, whose work is based on thinking about how the spaces will be used rather than conceiving them as works of art. Zumthor will give a keynote presentation about the year of mentorship in Mexico City.
The collaboration between Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and young American dancer Myles Thatcher will take form of five works performed by Thatcher and nine dancers from the San Francisco Ballet. Mexican film director Alejandro González Iñárritu chose to work with Israeli filmmaker and screenwriter Tom Shoval, whose collaboration will be presented through screening film clips and a discussion.
Canadian author Michael Ontdaatje has worked with up-coming Bulgarian-born writer Miroslav Penkov and Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho with Portuguese composer Vasco Mendonça. In visual arts, Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson chose artist-photographer Sammy Baloji, who works between Belgium and his native Democratic Republic of Congo.
In the field of theatre, the mentorship between lighting artist and professor Jennifer Tipton and young Mexican lighting designer Sebastián Solórzano Rodríguez has lead to a creation of a light installation for Mexico City Arts Weekend.
The biannual programme was launched in 2002 with an objective to support the world’s artistic heritage. The protégés are chosen through seven nominating panels, which recommend potential protégés and invite them to submit an application. The panel then chooses 3–4 finalists, and the invited mentor decides for the protégé he or she will mentor during the year.
Each mentored artist receives a grant of 25.000 Swiss francs during the mentoring year, and an additional 25.000 francs after the year to continue with a new piece of work. •
Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative will take place at Mexico City Arts Weekend on 5–6 December 2015.
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