EMΣΤ is pleased to announce the public talk entitled Socially Εngaged art in Contested Spaces: Ethics, Responsibilities, and Questions of Representation between the internationally acclaimed artists Sammy Baloji and William Kentridge ,moderated by the museum’s artistic director Katerina Gregos. The public talk is part of the Rolex Arts Festival: Celebrating 20 Years of Mentoring — 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 and talks has been organised especially for the Athenian public, with the aim of bringing together local artists and arts professionals with international guests. It will take place in several leading cultural institutions from 22–25 May. The talk at ΕΜΣΤ is part of this programme.
Presented by Rolex in partnership with ΕΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens
ARTISTS
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.
Sammy Baloji is 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. Baloji was a protégé of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative in the field of visual arts in 2014-2015.
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 (2018). Gregos has also curated three critically acclaimed National Pavilions at the Venice Biennale: Denmark (2011), Belgium (2015) – which featured the work of Sammy Baloji – and Croatia (2019). She regularly publishes on art, artists, society and culture, in books, catalogues, and periodicals.
INFORMATION
For further information please visit: www.rolex.org/rolex-mentor-protege/rolex-arts-festival/pre-festival-programme
ACCESS
Language: English
Free admission with tickets that will be distributed half an hour before the event.
Please arrive early as increased demand is expected.
IN PARTERSHIP WITH
