The mentors and protégés arts programme for 2023 to 2024 by Rolex has just been announced. The mentor lineup includes acclaimed artists El Anatsui (visual arts), Bernardine Evaristo (literature), Jia Zhang-Ke (film), Anne Lacaton (architecture) and Dianne Reeves (music). They have selected younger artists of outstanding accomplishment worldwide as their protégés.
This year’s crop of talented protégés who will benefit from this programme are: Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui has selected South African visual artist Bronwyn Katz; British author Bernardine Evaristo selected Ghanaian writer Ayesha Harruna Attah; Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke selected Filipino filmmaker Rafael Manuel; French architect Anne Lacaton selected Lebanese- Armenian architect Arine Aprahamian, and American jazz singer Dianne Reeves selected South Korean singer and composer Song Yi Jeon.
In keeping with the Rolex tradition of encouraging individual excellence, the protégés are given the rare opportunity to spend significant periods in a creative exchange with world-renowned artists in their particular field — the mentors — on a one-to-one basis.
The Rolex mentoring programme was established in 2002 and aimed to aid in transmitting artistic knowledge and craft from one generation to the next. It exemplifies Rolex’s pursuit of excellence, symbolised by the word ‘Perpetual’ that underpins every aspect of the brand’s activities, from watchmaking to its partnerships. This commitment to always reach the pinnacle of performance and achievement drives Rolex to support individuals and organisations in the arts and culture, sport and exploration, as well as those devising solutions to preserve the planet.
The mentoring programme is based on the belief that art is a continuum, an accumulation of past experiences over generations, and that all artists are inspired by those who went before them.
The mentors who have so far given their time generously and vast talent are among the world’s greatest artists. They are architect Sir David Adjaye, author Margaret Atwood, (the late) John Baldessari, writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, (the late) Trisha Brown, (the late) Patrice Chéreau, architect Sir David Chipperfield, writer Mia Couto, filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, (the late) Sir Colin Davis, choreographer Teresa De Keersmaeker, artist Olafur Eliasson, musician Brian Eno, author Hans Magnus Enzensberger, choreographer William Forsythe, filmmaker Stephen Frears, musician Gilberto Gil, composer Philip Glass, filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu, (the late) Sir Peter Hall, artist David Hockney, artist Rebecca Horn, musician Zakir Hussain, artist Joan Jonas, sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor, artist William Kentridge, choreographer Jirˇí Kylián, playwright Robert Lepage, dancer Lin Hwai-min and filmmaker Phyllida Lloyd.
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To date, the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative have paired 63 of the world’s greatest artists with 63 highly talented younger professionals from around the globe.
Rebecca Irvin, head of the mentoring programme, says: “Rolex is deeply grateful to the mentors for their commitment to advancing the artistry of the next generation through the irreplaceable tradition of individual exchange and inspiration. We also extend our congratulations to the protégés, who now join the global and multigenerational artistic community that has grown over the past two decades. It will be exciting to see how the creative collaborations in this new cycle will once again take place across barriers of geography and culture, as well as age, and to look forward to celebrating all the mentors and protégés from the past 20 years next year at an exceptional Rolex Arts gathering.”
Here is a closer look at the mentors, the protégés and their respective fields of expertise.
Architecture
Anne Lacaton
Named a Laureate of the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize and her partner Jean-Philippe Vassal, Anne Lacaton is recognised internationally for designs that maximise the discipline’s human and environmental potential and make sustainable use of what already exists. Since 1987, Lacaton and Vassal have designed dozens of private and social housing projects, cultural and academic institutions, and public spaces throughout Europe. Lacaton has served as an Associate Professor of Architecture and Design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich and has been a visiting professor at other leading universities.
Film
Jia Zhang-Ke
Considered one of the most daring Chinese filmmakers working today, Jia Zhang-Ke has become a leading figure in the post-1990 “Sixth Generation” of Chinese directors. His early films, known as the Shanxi trilogy, including his first feature Xiao Wu (Pickpocket, 1997), caught moments of transition in Chinese society. In 2006, Jia’s critically acclaimed Still Life won the Golden Lion at the 2006 Venice Film Festival and earned him the title of Best Director at the Asian Film Awards. His three latest award-winning feature films are A Touch of Sin (2013), Mountains May Depart (2015) and Ash is Purest White (2018). In 2017, Jia founded the Pingyao International Film Festival.
Literature
Bernardine Evaristo
Bernardine Evaristo was the first black woman and black British person to win the prestigious 2019 Booker Prize for her novel Girl, Woman, Other. She is the author of 10 books that explore the African diaspora and numerous other works of short fiction, poetry, drama, essays and journalism. The Emperor’s Babe (2001) was named one of the “100 Best Books of the Decade” by The Times of London in 2010. Most recently, she published Manifesto: On Never Giving Up (2021), her first book of non-fiction. Evaristo is President of the Royal Society of Literature, the first writer of colour to hold the position in 200 years.
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Music
Dianne Reeves
Recognised for her breathtaking virtuosity, improvisational prowess and unique brand of jazz and R&B, five-time Grammy winner Dianne Reeves is considered the pre-eminent jazz vocalist in the world. Her most recent album, Beautiful Life, received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, and she won the same award previously for three consecutive recordings. Reeves was the first Creative Chair for Jazz for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and has performed at the White House on multiple occasions. In 2018, the National Endowment for the Arts designated her a Jazz Master — the highest honour the US bestows on artists of the genre.
Visual Arts
El Anatsui
Ghanaian artist El Anatsui has helped redefine the global art world with Africa’s presence, raising its profile through his monumental sculptures and installations that move across painting, textiles, sculpture and design to encompass the use of water, wind, wood, clay, stone, metal, printing plates, aluminium bottle tops and other found materials. He is an Emeritus Professor in Sculpture at the University of Nigeria, an Honorary Royal Academician of the Royal Society of Arts and elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among his awards are the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale.
Architecture
Arine Aprahamian
Lebanese-Armenian architect, designer and researcher Arine Aprahamian championed an innovative, affordable and sustainable vision of the future through architecture. She founded the architecture and design studio MÜLLER APRAHAMIAN with partner Adrian Müller in 2018. With activities in Beirut, London and Yerevan, Armenia, the studio has since worked on cutting-edge buildings and proposals and forward-thinking projects with notable designers, artists and institutions. They recently launched Terraforma, an in-house R&D project working with local industry to explore the traditional, ancient building material of clay and produce innovative, domestic alternatives for architectural materials.
Film
Rafael Manuel
Filipino filmmaker Rafael Manuel — currently based between Amsterdam, London and Manila — has grounded his creations in the study of philosophy and visual communications. Among his numerous awards, Manuel won the Silver Bear Jury Prize at the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival for his short film Filipiñana. Last year, he received the Prince Claus Seed Award for Development and Culture, the Script and Development Award from the Hubert Bals Fund and the Ani ng Dangal Award from the Philippine National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Manuel is working on his first two feature films: Filipiñana (based on his short) and Patrimonio. He co-founded the international artist collective and film production company Idle Eye Productions.
Literature
Ayesha Harruna Attah
Part of a new generation of African writers who are making their name in literary circles, Senegal-based Ghanaian author Ayesha Harruna Attah has published five novels: Harmattan Rain (2009), Saturday’s Shadows (2015), The Hundred Wells of Salaga (2018), The Deep Blue Between (2020) and Zainab Takes New York (2022). In all of these works, she strives to create historical fiction that challenges existing preconceptions of African mores through her vibrant storytelling. Among her many accolades, Attah was a finalist in the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing, long-listed for the Prix Les Afriques and shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.
Music
Song Yi Jeon
South Korean modern jazz singer and composer Song Yi Jeon is known for her hypnotic voice, which is likened to a malleable wordless instrument, and for her incomparable improvisations. She studied classical composition at the University of Music and Fine Art in Graz, Austria, jazz vocals at the Academy of Music in Basel, Switzerland, and Boston’s Berklee College of Music in the US, where she developed her unique sound. At Berklee, she was the inaugural Quincy Jones CJ&E fellow and was also awarded the Billboard Endowed Award. New York's famous Blue Note is among the many clubs and festivals where the Song Yi Jeon Quintet has performed. In 2015, the Quintet released the mini-album Straight, while in 2018, Jeon released her first album, Movement of Lives.
Visual Arts
Bronwyn Katz
Singled out for her many accomplishments, South African visual artist Bronwyn Katz has established herself internationally. The Cape Town-based artist has incorporated sculpture, installation, video and performance in her acclaimed, nuanced body of work that uses natural materials such as iron ore or salvaged manufactured objects, including foam mattresses and bed springs. A solo exhibition of her work at London’s White Cube gallery in 2021 was followed by a show at the International Art Exhibition of the 2022 Venice Biennale. Katz won Africa’s prestigious First National Bank Art Prize in 2019. She is a founding member of iQhiya, a network of 11 black women artists.
