ROLEX ARTS FESTIVAL

Celebrating 20 Years of Mentoring

Project Room 1 & 2

PUBLIC TALK: 25.05.2023 - EXHIBITION: 26.05-04.06.2023

The Rolex Arts Festival: Celebrating 20 Years of Mentoring is a three-day event taking place on 26–28 May, 2023 in multiple venues across Athens to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

The festival marks the first time that Rolex has taken its mentoring programme to the Greek capital, along with dozens of the world’s most talented artists.

Multidisciplinary performances, exhibitions, readings, screenings, installations and discussions will show the achievements and creative relationships of more than 60 Rolex protégés and mentors.

A special pre-festival programme, including workshops, talks and dedicated to the people of Athens and organized to engage local artists, arts professionals and young people, will be offered from 22–25 May.

Presented by Rolex in partnership with ΕΜΣΤ

PUBLIC TALK

THURSDAY 25.05.2023, 19:00 – 21:00
ΕΜΣΤ Café

Public Talk: Socially engaged art in contested spaces: ethics, responsibilities, and questions of representation
A conversation between William Kentridge and Sammy Baloji moderated by Katerina Gregos.

Speaker: William Kentridge, Visual Arts mentor 2012-2013
William Kentridge is acclaimed for multidisciplinary artworks that mesh personal and political responses to the history of colonialism and apartheid in his native South Africa. Known for his fusions of charcoal drawing, animation and film, in recent years he has created complex works including multi-channel film installations, the monumental mural Triumphs & Laments (2016) along the Tiber in Rome and the processional shadow opera The Head & the Load (2018). Winner of the Kyoto Prize (2010) and Praemium Imperiale Prize (Tokyo, 2019), Kentridge was made a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in 2013. In 2023 he was awarded an Olivier award in London for his chamber opera Sibyl.

Speaker: Sammy Baloji, Visual Arts protégé 2014-2015
A photographer and sculptor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and co-founder of the Rencontres Picha/Biennale de Lubumbashi, Sammy Baloji has been the subject of multiple solo exhibitions around the world, most recently at the Galalerie degli Uffizi in Florence (2022). In 2020 he was selected for the “Power 100” list of the UK magazine ArtReview, and in 2019-2020 he was an artist in residence at the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici. His works are part of many public collections in Africa, Europe and the United States.
Sammy Baloji was mentored by Olafur Eliasson in 2014-2015.

Moderator: Katerina Gregos, Artistic Director of ΕΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens and Member of the Rolex Arts Festival Advisory Committee.
Biography: Katerina Gregos is a curator, writer and educator. She is currently artistic director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (ΕΜΣΤ), Athens. For more than twenty years, her curatorial practice has consistently explored the relationship between art, society and politics with a particular view on questions of democracy, human rights, economy, ecology, crises and changing global production circuits. She has curated numerous large-scale international exhibitions and nine international biennials. Most recently she was chief curator of the 1st Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art (RIBOCA1): Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More. Gregos has also curated three critically acclaimed National Pavilions at the Venice Biennale, Denmark (2011), Belgium (2015), Croatia (2019). She regularly publishes on art, artists, society and culture, in books, catalogues, and periodicals.

Tickets only available on-site

EXHIBITION-PROJECT ROOM 1 & 2

26.05-04.06.2023, Project Room 1 & 2
Group Exhibition, 20 years of mentoring, with introductory Talk

Introductory Talk: FRIDAY 26.05.2023, 14:00 – 15:30
Exhibition on view from Friday, 26 May to Sunday, 4 June 2023

Prior to the opportunity to view recent works from all Visual Arts Fellows, there will be an Introductory Talk with some of the artists including Thao Nguyen Phan and Camila Rodríguez Triana – moderated by the ΕΜΣΤ curatorial advisor Ioli Tzanetaki.

Exhibiting artists:
Sammy Baloji (Democratic Republic of Congo), Visual Arts protégé 2014-2015
A photographer and sculptor from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and co-founder of the Rencontres Picha/Biennale de Lubumbashi, Sammy Baloji has been the subject of multiple solo exhibitions around the world, most recently at the Galalerie degli Uffizi in Florence (2022). In 2020 he was selected for the “Power 100” list of the UK magazine ArtReview, and in 2019-2020 he was an artist in residence at the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici. His works are part of many public collections in Africa, Europe and the United States.
Sammy Baloji was mentored by Olafur Eliasson in 2014-2015.

Alejandro Cesarco (Uruguay), Visual Arts protégé 2006–2007
Born in Uruguay and based in New York, Alejandro Cesarco has participated in some 60 solo and group exhibitions and 7 biennials since 1999, in the United States, Latin America and Europe. His complex and evocative works, which make use of photography, video, books, drawing and sculpture, have been collected by institutions including The Museum of Modern Art, New York , the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, CNAP, Paris, and MuMOK, Viena. Cesarco serves as director of the non-profit organisation Art Resources Transfer, which is dedicated to creating more egalitarian access to the arts and literacy.
Alejandro Cesarco was mentored by John Baldessari in 2006–2007.

Masanori Handa (Japan), Visual Arts protégé 2008-2009
Born in Kanagawa, Japan, Masanori Handa earned a BA in Fine Arts from the Tokyo University of the Arts. Known for playful, impressionistic and contemplative installations and sculptures, which he develops through a process he calls “surfing the world,” he has participated in some 20 group exhibitions in 9 countries (most recently the 2022 Hawaii Triennial) and 10 solo exhibitions, including A Palace (2017, Ota Fine Arts, Singapore) and Tokyo Palace (2017, Statements, Tokyo). His work is in the collections of institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo and the Japan Foundation, Tokyo.
Masanori Handa was mentored by Rebecca Horn in 2008-2009.

Nicholas Hlobo (South Africa), Visual Arts protégé 2010-2011
South African visual artist Nicholas Hlobo is known for creating hybrid objects, weaving ribbon and leather into primed canvas alongside wood and rubber detritus. Each material holds charged associations with cultural, gendered and sexual identity, creating works that speak to post-apartheid nationhood and bodily healing. Hlobo’s work has been shown in 33 solo exhibitions across the world and he has participated in several biennales including the 54th Venice Biennale. His awards include the Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art (2009) and the inaugural Villa Extraordinary Award for Sculpture (2016).
Nicholas Hlobo was mentored by Sir Anish Kapoor in 2010−2011.

Mateo López (Colombia), Visual Arts protégé 2012-2013
Colombian artist Mateo López’s varied work includes drawings, installations, architecture, film and  “sculptural choreographies”, all representing journeys through themes of chance, time and the encounters of daily life. His work has been exhibited worldwide including at the 2010 São Paulo Biennale and institutions including the Museum of Modern Art and the Drawing Center, New York, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, Lismore Castle Arts, Ireland, the Museum of Modern Art Bogotá, the Museum of Modern Art Medellín, and Whitechapel Gallery, London. Recent exhibitions include Disclose at Goodman Gallery Cape Town (2022) and Pasado Futurista at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Lima (2023).
Mateo López was mentored by William Kentridge in 2012−2013.

Camila Rodríguez Triana (Colombia), Visual Arts protégée 2020-2022
Colombian visual artist Camila Rodríguez Triana uses media including video, photography and installation to reflect on memory, identity, ancestral heritage and the social and political reality of the Mestizo. Her first solo exhibition in the United States, Patrimonio Mestizo, was presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in the 2022 Rolex Arts Weekend. She is currently working on her first fiction film, El Canto del Auricanturi. She received the Emerging Artist Award at Rencontres Artistiques-Carré sur Seine in France and was nominated for the Emerging Artist Award by the Cisneros Fontanals  Art Foundation in the U.S.
Camila Rodríguez Triana was mentored by Carrie Mae Weems in 2020-2022.

Thao Nguyen Phan (Vietnam), Visual Arts protégée 2016-2017
Vietnamese visual artist Thao Nguyen Phan graduated from Singapore’s Lasalle College of the Arts in 2009 and subsequently received an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is a co-founder of Art Labor, a collective that explores cross-disciplinary practices and develops projects that benefit the community in Ho Chi Minh City. Her work has been exhibited widely in Southeast Asia, as well as in the 2021 New Museum Triennial and the 2022 Venice Biennale.  A work created by Art Labor with Joan Jonas was featured in the 2018 Carnegie International.
Thao Nguyen Phan was mentored by Joan Jonas in 2016−2017.

Matthias Weischer (Germany), Visual Arts protégé 2004-2005
German artist Matthias Weischer began his career making paintings that explored imagined interiors, then rediscovered drawing and open-air painting with the encouragement of David Hockney. He has received 31 solo exhibitions to date in cities including Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin. His work is in the collections of leading institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles and has been the subject of 11 publications. Weischer also has designed sets for theatre productions and made his debut as an opera designer for Die Freischütz at Germany’s National Theatre Mannheim.
Matthias Weischer was mentored by David Hockney in 2004-2005.

Moderator: Ioli Tzanetaki, Curatorial Advisor, ΕΜΣΤ
Ioli Tzanetaki is a curator, interdisciplinary researcher and writer. She is currently a curator and advisor for exhibitions at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMΣT), Athens. She holds an MA in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. Her work and research focus on the relationship between art, politics, and social issues, more specifically looking at issues of democracy, political economy, human rights, and the socio-political impact of art labour. Tzanetaki lives and works between Athens and Berlin.


Image: Matthias Weischer, Blende 2

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