Perpetuating culture

Living together sustainably

Rolex is supporting the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia for the fourth time since 2014. The event, part of Rolex’s commitment to the arts and culture, is a crucible for ideas that reflect an era of intense change.

Rolex and Cinema - Through the Years

Cinema is about transmission, from creator to audience, generation to generation, and from one filmmaker to the next.

Series of concerts breathes life back into musical world

Spearheaded by Rolex Testimonees, the “Perpetual Music” initiative not only entertains a global audience, it also provides artists the opportunity to do what they love most – perform and share their gift.

A living museum - Rolex Awards

Runa Khan has watched as traditional boats that used to ply Bangladesh’s waterways have been replaced by those with diesel engines. Determined to preserve traditional boat-building skills, she is now achieving her long-held dream of constructing a museum.

Ohad Naharin & Londiwe Khoza - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

Since being thrust into the unconventional world of Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin for a year, South African dancer Londiwe Khoza’s ability to interpret her own body has been transformed.

Crystal Pite & Khoudia Touré - Rolex Mentor et Protégé

“If I had to find one word to sum up the last two years, it would be ‘transformation’,” says Khoudia Touré, with the broadest of smiles.

Alfonso Cuarón & Chaitanya Tamhane – Rolex Mentor et Protégé

Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón’s latest film is shrouded in mystery, yet he is happy to share its secrets with protégé Chaitanya Tamhane.

Colm Tóibín & Colin Barrett - Rolex Mentor et Protégé

“We’ve been able to talk in a way that you just can’t even with your loved ones,” says the writer Colm Tóibín.

Zakir Hussain & Marcus Gilmore

“I see him as a bit of a sage. He’s like a kind of Yoda, he really is,” says Marcus Gilmore talking of his Rolex Arts Initiative mentor the legendary drummer Zakir Hussain.

Philip Glass & Pauchi Sasaki

Japanese-Peruvian composer Pauchi Sasaki finds a kindred soul in Philip Glass who opens up a lifetime of experience as an avant-garde composer whose music wells from a deep humanity.

Joan Jonas & Thao-Nguyen Phan - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

Thao-Nguyen Phan exhumes the poetry of Vietnam’s forgotten history with paintings and video works. She is inspired by her mentor, New York artist Joan Jonas, to see past the challenges of being an artist in her country.

Japan’s Architectural Poet - Arts

Kazuyo Sejima’s elegant minimalism has redefined the public building. Her designs for the undulating Rolex Learning Center and other major buildings have ensured that she has a global following and a busy practice. But she still had time to nurture an emerging architect as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

Series of concerts breathes life back into musical world - Video

Spearheaded by Rolex Testimonees, the “Perpetual Music” initiative not only entertains a global audience, it also provides artists the opportunity to do what they love most – perform and share their gift.

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim

The reality of climate change is known to few better than the people of Chad. The country’s largest lake, which bears the nation’s name and supports 30 million people, has almost vanished in barely two generations.

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim - Video

The reality of climate change is known to few better than the people of Chad. The country’s largest lake, which bears the nation’s name and supports 30 million people, has almost vanished in barely two generations. For climate change and indigenous rights advocate Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, the tragedy also offers an opportunity to bring her people together to solve their crisis, using the unlikely medium of mapping.

David Adjaye & Mariam Kamara - Video

Convinced that the goal of architecture is to transform, British-Ghanaian architecture mentor Sir David Adjaye and his protégée Mariam Kamara from Niger set about producing a concrete result for social good, with Kamara designing a major cultural complex for her country’s capital, Niamey.

Plácido Domingo - The constant reinvention

As the 20th century drew to a close, arts journalists not only in Spain but the world over acquired the absurd habit of asking Plácido Domingo when he was planning to retire. The singer was approaching 60 and the question became commonplace.

I'm not a young conductor anymore - Arts

Rolex Testimonee Gustavo Dudamel has the world at his feet. The charismatic Venezuelan conductor has shaken the foundations of classical music with his open mind and bold, new interpretations of old classics.

A dynamic tower for Dallas - Arts

Rolex’s ethos of design and innovation of the highest quality extends to the buildings the company commissions all over the world. In Dallas, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has designed an office tower that twists out of the ground.

Mentors and Protégés for 2020-2021 - Arts Initiative - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Artistic masters Spike Lee, Phyllida Lloyd, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Carrie Mae Weems will pass on their creative legacy to rising talents in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.

The latest mentoring pairs - Rolex Mentor & Protégé

Rolex and Cinema

Over the decades, Rolex has been an enduring presence in this beguiling artform. Our support extends to legendary directors Martin Scorsese, Kathryn Bigelow, James Cameron and Alejandro G. Iñárritu as they inspire and pass on their expertise to the next generation of filmmakers.

Alexei Ratmansky & Myles Thatcher - Video

Russian-born choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and his protégé Myles Thatcher share a deep respect for the “language” that is classical dance. Both are intensely involved in reinvigorating their art form for the 21st century. A perfect partnership.

Alfonso Cuarón and Chaitanya Tamhane - Video

For Indian protégé Chaitanya Tamhane, his mentoring year with Academy-award winning film director Alfonso Cuarón was a stroke of fortune. He describes his mentor’s image-based film-making as “like watching magic”. Tamhane says his approach to cinema will never be the same again.

Rolex.org - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative contributes to global culture by helping ensure that the world’s artistic heritage is passed on to the next generation.

Mia Couto & Julián Fuks - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

A shared sense of inherited exile is one affinity between Mia Couto and his protégé Julián Fuks, who wants help to venture from family history into invented worlds.

Sir David Chipperfield & Simon Kretz - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

Instead of collaborating on a building during the mentoring year, Sir David Chipperfield and his Swiss protégé Simon Kretz decided to investigate how planning shapes a city and gives voice to the aspirations of its citizens.

Four iconic filmmakers pay tribute to their mentors - Video

Martin Scorsese, Kathryn Bigelow, Alejandro G. Iñárritu and James Cameron are legendary directors who remember the challenges that confront young filmmakers.

Kaija Saariaho and Vasco Mendonça - Video

Composing music is a solitary occupation. For Finland’s Kaija Saariaho and her protégé, Portugal’s Vasco Mendonça the mentorship delivered a rare opportunity to “enrich” each other discussing music in concert halls around Europe and in the United States.

An interview with Kathryn Bigelow - Rolex and Cinema

Kathryn Bigelow, the only woman to have won a Best Director Oscar — for <i>The Hurt Locker</i> — is renowned for her resolve to make socially and politically challenging films. “Compassion is your best friend,” says Bigelow, who tells young filmmakers not to compromise.

Martin Scorsese and Haig P. Manoogian

On his orientation day at university in New York, Martin Scorsese was exposed to Haig Manoogian's passion for the craft of filmmaking. He was immediately taken by the film lecturer who “set a fire in our hearts… it’s one of the most precious gifts I have ever received.”

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Ludwik Margules and Ernesto Bolio - Video

Alejandro G. Iñárritu had two mentors. Ludwik Margules, with whom he studied drama, taught him to question himself and to embrace uncertainty. And Ernesto Bolio, a man who did not know anything about cinema, but knew a lot about life. “He was someone who opened a world within me.”

Kathryn Bigelow and Lawrence Weiner - Video

Fresh out of art school in San Francisco, Kathryn Bigelow went to New York where she was introduced to conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner. They had an instant rapport and began a 10-year relationship as mentor and protégée. “He would challenge your ideas… why do you want to make this? Why is that an interesting idea?”

Martin Scorsese - Rolex and Cinema

Martin Scorsese is a towering figure in cinema, a director, producer and screenwriter with a career spanning 50 years and as many films, many of which are considered some of the greatest ever made.

An interview with Alejandro G. Iñárritu - Rolex and Cinema

“Transcend your reason and follow your intuition,” Alejandro G. Iñárritu advises young filmmakers. For the director who is one of only three people to have won Best Director Oscars two years in a row – for <i>Birdman</i> and <i>The Revenant</i> – the ability to share the mystery of “those things that can only be felt” is an essential element of filmmaking.

James Cameron and Ian McKenzie - Video

James Cameron credits a high school teacher, Ian McKenzie, with helping his confidence by encouraging him to form an arts group with other kids. “He created the framework and he stepped back and let us go.” The experience changed his life. “He came up to me in the hallway one day and he said, ‘You have unlimited potential.’ At 14, it was a cool thing to hear.”

Alejandro G. Iñárritu - Rolex and Cinema

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s two Best Director Oscars have earned the Mexican filmmaker a place in movie history next to Hollywood legends John Ford and Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

James Cameron - Rolex and Cinema

James Cameron’s films have blazed a trail in visual effects and set numerous performance records, both in the United States and internationally. <i>Avatar</i> is the highest grossing film in history, and <i>Titanic</i> held that same record for 12 years.

Kathryn Bigelow - Rolex and Cinema

Kathryn Bigelow, who originally studied painting at the San Francisco Art Institute before receiving a Master’s in Film from Columbia University and becoming a filmmaker, in 1981 co-wrote and directed her first feature film, The Loveless, which gained critical acclaim.

About the Rolex arts initiative - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative contributes to global culture by helping ensure that the world’s artistic heritage is passed on to the next generation.

Rolex Mentors & Protégés Community

The Rolex Arts Initiative has evolved into a global creative community that has enabled an enriching dialogue between artists of different generations, cultures and disciplines. Since 2002 more than 1,100 people in 105 countries have been nominated for the programme. Advisors include 123 major artists and creative leaders, while 253 influential figures in the arts have nominated young artists and selected finalists. More than 50 of the world’s greatest artists have served as mentors.

Learning from a Master - Arts

The fiercely tender art of Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Oscar-winning director of Birdman, first touched young cineaste Tom Shoval at a movie theatre in Tel Aviv. A decade and a half later, Shoval found himself under Iñárritu’s wing as a protégé in the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. He learned first-hand from his mentor how to be a complete film-maker, absorbing more life lessons along the way. Here, Shoval gives us memorable snapshots of his experience during his mentoring year in 2014–2015.

Perpetual spirit, the story of Rolex

Perpetual Spirit

Meetings

Beyond his desire to succeed, it was Caballé-Domenech’s passion for music that caught Sir Colin’s eye. “He’s pretty wild. One should be wild when one is young.”

A harmony of musical souls

In encounters in cities from Los Angeles to Helsinki, the mentorship of Finland’s Kaija Saariaho and Portugal’s Vasco Mendonça unfolded smoothly, establishing a joyful professional friendship that was both dynamic and highly productive.

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Wole Soyinka and Tara June Winch - Video

Declaring their mentorship to be “a process of development”, Wole Soyinka, first African Laureate of the Nobel Prize for Literature, encourages his protégée, Tara June Winch, as she agonizes over her writing. When anyone writes, he says, himself included, “it’s all over the place.” It’s the rewriting that follows that marks out a true writer.

Julie Taymor and Selina Cartmell - Video

Julie Taymor, famous for creating spectacular theatre, film and opera, wanted to mentor “someone I can have a dialogue with”. She found her in British director Selina Cartmell, for whom the mentorship is an ideal opportunity for the rare privilege of watching another director at work as Taymor creates a new opera, Grendel.

Peter Sellars and Maya Zbib - Video

With a live performance and both Chicago and Beirut as the backdrop, Peter Sellars and Maya Zbib give surprising – and very different – explanations of the nature of art, as well as describing each other, their mentorship and how to change the world.

Anish Kapoor and Nicholas Hlobo - Video

In a mentorship that is a process, rather than a collaboration on a joint work, Nicholas Hlobo’s art, which springs from many hours of precise handicraft, is contrasted with the monumental pieces created by his mentor Anish Kapoor, that seem “to be made by the gods”.

Michael Ondaatje and Miroslav Penkov - Video

Bulgarian protégé Miroslav Penkov could not believe that his mentor was Michael Ondaatje, “someone who stands so tall in a field of giants”. For Ondaatje, author of The English Patient, “our lives are utterly disordered”, so watching Penkov bring order into life by writing fiction was a source of pleasure.

Zakir Hussain & Marcus Gilmore - Video

Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain and young American drummer Marcus Gilmore believe that creating music must be based on keeping the past but also exploring new possibilities.

Rebecca Horn and Masanori Handa - Video

Two enigmatic visual artists, Rebecca Horn and Masanori Handa, from very different countries, Germany and Japan, quickly develop a strong friendship and a mutual admiration for each other’s category-defying work. Communication during their mentorship is not confined to language – drawing together enables them to boost their joint creativity.

John Baldessari and Alejandro Cesarco - Video

Renowned American conceptual artist John Baldessari believes that “art is more than just painting”. His mentorship of Alejandro Cesarco (from Uruguay) is an intense collaboration that combines visuals, text, irony and humour in the creation of a new work of art.

Stephen Frears and Josué Mendez - Video

“For a Peruvian to work with [Stephen] Frears, it’s just not possible”, says young Lima film-maker Josué Mendez of the respected British director. But that’s exactly what happens when Frears chooses Mendez as his protégé and they share the “very precise art” of film-making, with Mendez directing his second full-length feature.

New Horizons - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Embarking on the second cycle of the Rolex Mentor Protégé Arts Initiative, Sir Peter Hall had a logical, coherent plan. His agenda for the year included several of his specialties: among them Shakespeare (<i>As You Like It</i>, for the first time in his career), Harold Pinter (a revival of <i>Betrayal</i>, of which he directed the premiere in 1978), and opera (<i>La Cenerentola</i>, the Rossini version of <i>Cinderella</i>).

Walter Murch and Sara Fgaier - Video

What does a film editor do? Walter Murch, editor of many iconic films, and his protégée, Italian film editor Sara Fgaier, provide succinct descriptions of the complex skill of constructing a feature film, the focus of their year-long mentorship.

Colm Tóibín & Colin Barrett - Video

Irish writer Colin Barrett recognizes that writing is a solitary pursuit, but also acknowledges the need to escape solitude and meet other people and fellow authors.

Rolex.org - Mario Vargas Llosa and Antonio García Ángel - Video

“One cannot teach how to write, but one can teach a young writer what not to do when writing a novel,” declares Peru’s Nobel literature laureate, Mario Vargas Llosa. This and many other lessons are the basis of a highly productive mentorship with his protégé, novelist Antonio García Ángel, from Colombia, who emails his writing to his mentor every week and then engages in a literary critique by telephone.

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and Anani Dodji Sanouvi - Video

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, one of the world’s most distinguished choreographers, says of her protégé, Togolese dancer Anani Dodji Sanouvi, “he is like the sun … he has an energy that is inspiring.” Sanouvi in turn declares that a year being mentored by De Keersmaeker is the chance of a lifetime.

Mira Nair and Aditya Assara - Video

When Thai film-maker Aditya Assarat shadows his mentor, Mira Nair, on set as she directs The Namesake in Kolkata, India, he discovers some of the secrets of her lavish cinematography. “She’s like the host of a party. That goes a lot towards holding the film crew together.” Nair describes it differently: “It’s about orchestrating chaos,” she says.

Trisha Brown and Lee Serle - Video

For young Australian dancer Lee Serle, a year in New York being mentored by one of the world’s greatest choreographers, Trisha Brown, is an opportunity to “go back to the source”, as both mentor and protégé search for originality, humanity and beauty of movement.

Zhang Yimou and Annemarie Jacir - Video

For Zhang Yimou, China’s creator of dazzling films, success is not about inspiration but the fruit “of hardships and efforts” as he meticulously masters every single scene. For his protégée Annemarie Jacir, working alongside him on set and in the editing room as he makes The Flowers of War, his supreme “visual sense” is the key to his rich and moving stories.

Lin Hwai-min and Eduardo Fukushima - Video

Young Brazilian dancer Eduardo Fukushima moves from São Paulo to Taiwan, where his mentor, Asia’s premier choreographer Lin Hwai-min, elaborates his unique philosophy of movement and being. A year with this “very generous person” has “transformed my life”, Fukushima declares.

The Nurturer and the Hunter - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Brian Eno, who became famous in the 1970s as part of the glam-rock band, Roxy Music, has never stopped finding new ways to be creative, using all the media that today’s fast-developing technology can provide.

Merging differences - Rolex Mentor Protégé

When it came to choosing who was to be her protégé for a year, Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker took a risk.

The art and heart of making films - Rolex Mentor Protégé

The spectacular, exquisitely coloured scenes and riveting storylines created by Zhang Yimou in some of contemporary cinema’s most iconic works, including Raise the Red Lantern, To Live and Hero, have won the Chinese director an unparalleled global audience, going far beyond the normal fan base for “foreign films”.

David Adjaye & Mariam Kamara - Rolex Mentor et Protégé

A visit to Mariam Kamara’s native Niger was the turning point in the relationship between her and world-famous Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye.

Rolex.org - Rolex Mentor and Protégé all projects

The art of creating new realities - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Sammy Baloji’s mentoring year consisted of a series of short but intense encounters with Olafur Eliasson, mainly in Berlin, where Eliasson has his studio.

The ideal situation - Rolex Mentor Protégé

In the challenging world of conceptual art, where execution of the work is regarded as secondary to the idea or concept behind it, traditions are meaningless and the very nature of art – including the term “conceptual art” itself – is constantly called into question.

Artists in wonderland - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Year after year, Anish Kapoor, one of the world’s most famous living artists, astonishes the international arts community with his gigantic, enigmatic creations that fill the biggest exhibition spaces in the world’s best-known galleries. Nicholas Hlobo, a young artist from Johannesburg whose output is closely watched by collectors longing to buy, weaves together rubber, leather and fabric to produce intimate objets and performances that evoke an enticing but provocative beauty.

Outside the comfort zone - Rolex Mentor Protégé

During the mentoring year William Kentridge wanted to show Mateo López how his work could expand and flower. In encounters in the United States and the Netherlands, and, most of all, for several weeks in Kentridge’s Johannesburg studio, the mentor encouraged his protégé to find radically new ways to create art.

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Beginning Again - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Masanori Handa, a young visual artist from Japan, explores human experience via his own sensations, imagination and memory – a process that he calls “surfing the world” – creating a series of original works that defy categorization and dazzle, rather than scandalize, the viewer. In the Rolex Arts Initiative, he found an ideal mentor in revered German artist Rebecca Horn, a pioneer in the art of turning experience inside out.

William Kentridge and Mateo López - Video

Visual arts protégé Mateo López is, thanks to his architecture background, “incredibly precise”, says mentor William Kentridge. In his Johannesburg studio, Kentridge pushes his protégé out of his “comfort zone”, helping him to develop a more spontaneous approach to creativity.

Olafur Eliasson and Sammy Baloji - Video

For Sammy Baloji, who had mainly worked in photography, immersion in the life and work of mentor and multimedia artist Olafur Eliasson brought a transformation, enriching his work and bringing a greater complexity of language as he discovered new materials and modes of expression.

One wish - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Looking forward to a year of privileged access to Hockney through the offices of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, Matthias Weischer – a 32-year-old painter from Germany who specializes in deceptively realistic interiors – had no clear-cut expectations.

Álvaro Siza & Sahel Al-Hiyari - Video

For Álvaro Siza, Portugal’s master architect, his profession is not about copying designs of the past. His protégé, Sahel Al-Hiyari, says “with Siza … it’s much deeper than that.” Al-Hiyari explains that “architecture is synonymous with human existence. It’s one’s second skin.”

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Robert Wilson and Federico León - Video

Mentoring is not learning in the conventional sense. It’s really the idea of interacting. Two artists meet and interact,” says gifted Argentinean director Federico León of his year of collaborating with his mentor, the legendary director and artist Robert Wilson.

Sir Peter Hall and Lara Foot - Video

Under the subtle and experienced eye of British director Sir Peter Hall, his protégée, South Africa’s Lara Foot, directs a play – that she also wrote – exposing a taboo subject in her country. “South Africa is a country of contradictions,” she says, and these contradictions lend themselves to brilliant theatre, as Lara Foot demonstrates.

Robert Lepage and Matías Umpierrez - Video

Canada’s Robert Lepage is world famous for his mastery of multidimensional productions. With his global outlook and mastery of technology, his protégé, Matías Umpierrez of Argentina, is also pushing the boundaries of theatre. Their pairing produced a fascinating exchange that Lepage described as “the best relationship possible”.

Patrice Chéreau and Michał Borczuch - Video

The late French director Patrice Chéreau described himself as “a slave to the text”. His protégé Michał Borczuch takes the opposite approach, with an “anarchistic” style of direction. “I wasn’t interested in somebody who was doing something similar to me,” Chéreau said.

Joan Jonas and Thao Nguyen-Phan - Video

“Art is a spiritual practice,” says Joan Jonas, pioneer of performance and video art. For her Vietnamese protégée Thao-Nguyen Phan, the experience of working with Jonas and observing her constant experimentation has taught her to be more open to what she can use to tell the stories that underlie her work.

David Hockney and Matthias Weischer - Video

“I’ve never done any teaching,” says David Hockney, Britain’s most famous living artist. He agreed to be a mentor in the hope he would not only teach, but also learn. Traveling and painting with his protégé, Germany’s Matthias Weischer, Hockney says, “I’ve got a new friend, a young painter. A good teacher learns from pupils.”

Jennifer Tipton and Sebastián Solórzano Rodríguez - Video

Jennifer Tipton, one of the world’s greatest lighting designers, declares that “light is the substance of our existence”. Her protégé, Mexico’s Sebastián Solórzano Rodríguez, agrees completely as he witnessed Tipton creating lighting for performances at theatres and opera houses all over the world.

Philip Glass and Pauchi Sasaki - Video

For composer Philip Glass, “music is a place”. He chose Pauchi Sasaki, from Peru, as his protégée because he was convinced she would gain most from the mentoring year. He helped her navigate not only the subtleties of composing but also the practicalities of living as a professional musician.

Youssou N’Dour and Aurelio Martínez - Video

A year’s mentorship with Youssou N’Dour gives Aurelio Martínez, from Honduras, not only an opportunity to boost his musical skills and self-confidence in the company of “the icon of African music”, but also to learn more about the historic and musical background of his African ancestors as he visits N’Dour’s continent for the first time.

Kate Valk and Nahuel Perez Biscayart - Video

Argentinian actor Nahuel Perez Biscayart shifts to New York to spend a year with his mentor, Kate Valk, a founding member of the Wooster Group. There he finds that inspiration comes as a result of producing, trying, failing and finding the beauty in accidents.

Pinchas Zukerman and David Aaron Carpenter - Video

World-renowned violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman says “the fiddle is synonymous with my existence”. He finds the same commitment in his protégé, young American violist David Aaron Carpenter, from the United States.

Sir Colin Davis and Josep Caballé-Domenech - Video

One of the world’s greatest conductors, (the late) Sir Colin Davis believed that “you don’t control an orchestra, you are allowing things to happen.” Preparation and a deep cultural sense are what a conductor needs – lessons that Sir Colin instilled into his brilliant protégé, Josep Caballé-Domenech, from Spain.

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Gilberto Gil and Dina El Wedidi - Video

For Egyptian singer Dina El Wedidi and her mentor, Brazilian music icon Gilberto Gil, differences in culture are not an obstacle to a productive mentorship. Quite the opposite. “She wanted to experience that friction between Egypt and Brazil,” Gil says.

Jessye Norman and Susan Platts - Video

Rolex Mentor and Protégée in Music, 2004 - 2005

Brian Eno and Ben Frost - Video

As they create a track of electronic music during their mentoring year, multimedia artists Brian Eno and Ben Frost reveal the two sides of composition, finding inspiration and analyzing the music they create and how it will be heard.

Hans Magnus Enzensberger and Tracy K. Smith - Video

In a mentorship that they describe as an intense and joyful conversation, poets Hans Magnus Enzensberger (from Germany) and Tracy K. Smith (American) explore the nature of poetry – “Everyone has poetry in their head,” Enzensberger proclaims. But their quest goes further, examining history and identity as Smith realizes a longstanding desire to write her family memoir.

Margaret Atwood and Naomi Alderman - Video

Canada’s grand mistress of fiction Margaret Atwood likens mentoring to door-opening. “We speak the same language,” Atwood says of her protégée, young British author Naomi Alderman. Their relationship even extends to writing a zombie novella together.

Tahar Ben Jelloun and Edem Awumey - Video

Moroccan-born and now one of France’s most fêted writers, Tahar Ben Jelloun declares that “literature is not reassuring, it’s disturbing”. Edem, from Togo, writing a novel of “dark nights and ghosts”, was the ideal protégé to accompany in the challenging process of creating fiction.

Mia Couto and Julián Fuks - Video

Mia Couto’s mentoring relationship with Julián Fuks was a fusion of interests wrought by their mutual experiences as writers living in former colonies of Portugal. Liberated from his “autofiction” style of writing by his mentor, Fuks found he was able to explore his imagination in a different way.

Toni Morrison and Julia Leigh - Video

Nobel literature laureate Toni Morrison is not only a novelist and teacher, she is also an experienced editor – the perfect mentor for young, Australian writer Julia Leigh as she starts on her second novel.

Martin Scorsese and Celina Murga - Video

For American master of cinema Martin Scorsese, to be a good film director, you need to become part of the world you are filming. His protégée, Argentinean director Celina Murga, does so with passion, he declares, describing her as a natural film-maker. The admiration is mutual. “Marty’s the perfect mentor,” says Murga.

Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Tom Shoval - Video

Young Israeli director Tom Shoval’s year of mentoring evolved with the excitement worthy of a Hollywood film script. Shoval spent weeks on the set of Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s film 'The Revenant' with the Oscar winner revealing all the “infinite possibilities” of film-making.

Jiří Kylián and Jason Akira Somma - Video

Jason Akira Somma describes himself as “a dance visual artist”, transcending artistic boundaries. In Jiří Kylián he finds not only a mentor, but also a generous “life coach” happy to share a lifetime’s experience. The mentorship, says Somma, “has absolutely changed my life”.

William Forsythe and Sang Jijia - Video

William Forsythe, one of the greatest innovators of modern dance, believes that ballet “shouldn’t be left in the 19th century”. His radical approach finds the perfect protégé in Sang Jijia, a gifted Chinese dancer of Tibetan origin. “Sang-ba is like unpolluted water,” says Forsythe. “He runs clear.”

Crystal Pite & Khoudia Touré - Video

Dance is a wordless art form with few guidebooks, so for two choreographers − hip-hop dancer Khoudia Touré, from Senegal, and Canadian superstar choreographer Crystal Pite — to work face-to-face was a priceless experience.

Saburo Teshigawara and Junaid Jemal Sendi - Video

“Rolex has introduced me to the world,” says Ethiopia’s Junaid Jemal Sendi, whose life has been transformed by dance. His mentorship, under leading Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara, takes Sendi to Europe and Japan. “Now he has just opened his own future door,” says Teshigawara in admiration. “And he wants to go further.”

Ohad Naharin and Londiwe Khoza - Video

South African Londiwe Khoza started dancing at age five, but when she joined Ohad Naharin’s Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv for the mentoring year, she had to learn to dance in a way that required a new kind of body awareness. After three months, she “stopped thinking and started feeling it”.

Shared uncertainty - Rolex Mentor Protégé

One of the world’s most accomplished directors across an extraordinary range of theatre, encompassing serious drama, musicals, opera and Shakespeare on film, Julie Taymor had no inhibitions about sharing with young British director Selina Cartmell the mechanics and the headaches behind creating a new opera, Grendel. Cartmell’s own rich theatrical vision, crossing disciplines and taking inspiration from today’s most daring directors, Taymor included, meant that these two theatre-makers had a wealth of ideas and experience to share with each other.

Theatre to change the world - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Peter Sellars’ courageous determination to make theatre and opera relevant to today has earned him the reputation of enfant terrible of the contemporary stage. His uncanny ability to awaken Western audiences from their complacency, combined with his humility and generosity of spirit, made him the ideal mentor for a young dramatist from a country whose citizens are all too aware of the vicissitudes of fortune.

One of a kind - Rolex Mentor Protégé

<i>The Wooster Group</i>, based in New York, has made its name with radical interpretations of drama classics, from Shakespeare to Arthur Miller. Through intense and rigorous re-imagining and recreations of texts via close collaboration between its members, The Group is reinventing theatre.

Kazuyo Sejima and Yang Zhao - Video

Japanese mentor Kazuyo Sejima and protégé Yang Zhao believe architecture is about more than constructing buildings – it’s about changing lives. They put their conviction into practice with a humanitarian project as Zhao designs a community gathering place in a tsunami-devastated area.

Sir David Chipperfield and Simon Kretz - Video

For Sir David Chipperfield and his Swiss protégé Simon Kretz, the mentoring year provided the perfect opportunity for a detailed examination of the impact of architecture on society – how buildings can create strong communities if they relate to people and the environment.

Peter Zumthor and Gloria Cabral - Video

Gloria Cabral, from Asunción in Paraguay, spent weeks at the Swiss studio of her mentor Peter Zumthor, who involved her in the whole process of building a tea chapel in South Korea, opening up her mind “in a radical way”.

The master and the iconoclast - Rolex Mentor Protégé

The late Patrice Chéreau was interested in watching Michał Borczuch forge his own path, letting their numerous encounters of the mentoring year develop naturally into a conversation that thrived on their differences.

Robert Lepage & Matías Umpierrez - Rolex Mentor and Protégé

Artistic soulmates who refuse to be typecast, Robert Lepage and his protégé Matías Umpierrez borrow from various disciplines to furnish their eclectic, maverick productions.

Landscapes of light - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Throughout the mentoring year young Mexican lighting designer Sebastián Solórzano Rodríguez sat alongside Jennifer Tipton, one of the world’s greatest exponents of the art of lighting, as she lit up rehearsals and performances in London, Barcelona, Paris, New York, Houston and Madrid. Rodríguez also invited his mentor to Mexico City, his home town. They had a concrete plan of action at the beginning of the mentoring year, the results of which, Rodríguez later said, were that his life “has changed forever.”

Meetings - Rolex Mentor Protégé

“I thought that Federico was in some ways the least likely of them (possible protégés). First I said to myself: ‘No.’ Then I thought that with him I’d be taking the biggest risk. It’s exciting when you really don’t know yet what will develop.”

A stranger at home - Rolex Mentor Protégé

The discovery of a world of music totally new to him intrigued the well-known Senegalese musician, Youssou N’Dour, when he chose his protégé Aurelio Martínez, a Garifuna from Honduras.

The selection - Rolex Mentor Protégé

One of today’s most respected violinists, Pinchas Zukerman, has a special love for the viola. In choosing as his protégé the highly gifted string player David Carpenter, Zukerman has found someone who can benefit, as he has, from the rich interchange between the two instruments.

Partnership - Rolex Mentor Protégé

For both Jessye Norman and her Rolex protégée Susan Platts, singing is an exploration of the words: what they meant to the composer setting them to music, what the fusion of literature and music has manifested and whether the opera stage is the ideal place to sing them.

Carousel of dreams - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Driven by the same passion for music in all its forms and a history of creating songs with political overtones, Gilberto Gil and Dina El Wedidi forged a close relationship as the Brazilian icon helped the young Egyptian move on to the world stage.

Travellers - Rolex Mentor Protégé

A young mother, beginning her career as a novelist in Australia, and a renowned Nigerian author, often in demand internationally for his opinions and insights, are worlds apart in terms of geography, culture and experience.

Literary relationship - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Antonio García Ángel thought Mario Vargas Llosa was going to help him write a new novel. In fact, Llosa showed him a whole new way of working.

Encounters on the digital frontier - Rolex Mentor Protégé

A shared interest in history, technology and religion created an immediate rapport between mentor Margaret Atwood and her protégée Naomi Alderman.

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Maps for a writer's journey - Rolex Mentor Protégé

With much in common – they have both changed countries and cultures, and have careers as both teachers and writers – Canadian Michael Ondaatje and United States-based Bulgarian Miroslav Penkov quickly developed a strong literary friendship, exchanging messages and travelling to Bulgaria together.

Meetings - Rolex Mentor Protégé

“At one stage, I thought of putting my manuscript on hold and beginning something entirely different. Toni shook her head: ‘No, no.’” Protégée Julia Leigh, speaking about the encouragement she received from Toni Morrison.

A meeting of minds - Rolex Mentor Protégé

What could a polymath patrician of German intellectual life have in common with a young, African-American poet? A lot more than you would think, but the singular truth is that it is their differences that seem to make the mentorship flourish.

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Breaking ground - Rolex Mentor Protégé

With much in common – they have both changed countries and cultures, and have careers as both teachers and writers – Canadian Michael Ondaatje and United States-based Bulgarian Miroslav Penkov quickly developed a strong literary friendship, exchanging messages and travelling to Bulgaria together.

Alchemy in the editing room - Rolex Mentor Protégé

The mentoring year allowed Sara Fgaier, who teaches film editing, to observe and work with Walter Murch as he made the final edits of a new documentary, Particle Fever.

Like a Hollywood script - Rolex Mentor Protégé

In a highly eventful mentoring year, protégé Tom Shoval was invited to watch post-production work on Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s masterpiece, <i>Birdman</i>, and was present when his mentor received three Academy Awards for his film at the 2015 Oscars.

Shared lenses - Rolex Mentor Protégé

On a mellow summer afternoon, Celina Murga sits under a vast, old tree on the grounds of a derelict 19th-century insane asylum outside Medfield, Massachusetts.

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A year of mentoring - Rolex Mentor Protégé

During the year of mentoring, Méndez shot his feature film <I>Dioses</I> with the guidance of Stephen Frears. While they initially met in Lima, the real discussions between mentor and protégé began on a trip to the long-lost, mountain-top, Inca city of Machu Picchu – an hour by plane plus four hours by bus from the capital.

Pilgrimage for body and soul - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Eduardo Fukushima moved to Taiwan for the mentoring year in order to observe how Lin Hwai-min’s company, the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, works at home and on tour.

On location - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Signing on for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, Mira Nair let it be known just what sort of young partner she wanted: “Find me a girl from Karballah!” Yet Nair chose a boy, or rather, a young man, from Thailand: Aditya Assarat, 33.

Meetings - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Alone among the senior partners of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, Forsythe proposed a steady collaboration throughout the mentoring year.

A pas de deux of ideas - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Classical ballet is not frozen in the past but is a living, evolving art – this conviction provided a shared faith for mentor Alexei Ratmansky and protégé Myles Thatcher.

Dance and the art of subversion - Rolex Mentor Protégé

For more than three decades, Trisha Brown has dominated the dance firmament like a blazing sun. Not only has she created a series of the most memorable contemporary choreographies, she has also turned dance on its head, breaking rules and crossing boundaries. Those who have had the privilege of working with her have seen their lives transformed. Now Lee Serle, a young dancer from Australia, is thrust – to his delight – into the complex, demanding dance arena that is the Trisha Brown Dance Company.

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A year of mentoring - Rolex Mentor Protégé

After holding key roles at a world-famous dance company for over three decades, celebrated Czech-born choreographer and Rolex dance mentor Jiří Kylián was seeking a new direction in his work, focusing on cross-disciplinary projects and the great potential of contemporary technology.

A clear plan - Rolex Mentor Protégé

It began with Junaid watching Saburo Teshigawara managing lights and arranging the stage. It ended with him dancing a major role in the Tokyo premiere of <i>Kazahana</i>

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Zen and the art of mentoring - Rolex Mentor Protégé

During the mentoring year, young Chinese architect Yang Zhao designed a Home-for-All, a communal gathering place that was part of a project created by his mentor Kazuyo Sejima and other leading Japanese architects in response to the devastation caused by the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

A feeling for atmosphere - Rolex Mentor Protégé

Switzerland, Paraguay and South Korea were the principal settings for Peter Zumthor and Gloria Cabral’s busy, collaborative partnership which grew rapidly from the start.

Meetings - Rolex Mentor Protégé

One of the world’s greatest architects, Alvaro Siza from Portugal, and a young Jordanian architect, Sahel Al-Hiyari, found common ground in their views on the theory and practice of architecture, which enhanced their many intense discussions and outings, especially to visit Siza’s groundbreaking works.

Conserving the ancient beauty of Petra - Video

Chemistry professor Talal Akasheh, who has devoted 26 years to documenting Petra scientifically, is set to complete a knowledge system that will underpin the city’s future conservation.

Footprints to the past - Video

Argentinian palaeontologist and geologist Teresa Manera de Bianco is struggling to save a unique collection of animal footprints made 12,000 years ago. The three-kilometre-long site is now part of the Atlantic coastline near Teresa’s home, but 12,000 years ago it was an inland pond teeming with birds and mammals.

The lessons of Maya art? - Video

In 1975, a young Belgian archaeologist and art historian, Martine Fettweis-Viénot, began a single-handed study of the colourful Maya murals of Mexico and Guatemala. Her painstaking copying of the paintings, which is to result eventually in a published catalogue, led her to new theories about the murals and their role in Maya society.

Telling ancient tales - Video

Italian social entrepreneur Selene Biffi has set up a storytelling school in Kabul that will preserve Afghanistan’s rich oral heritage and spread crucial development information.

A living museum - Video

Runa Khan has watched as traditional boats that used to ply Bangladesh’s waterways have been replaced by those with diesel engines. Determined to preserve traditional boat-building skills, she is now achieving her long-held dream of constructing a museum.

World’s oldest art gallery - Video

For close to half a century, Luc Debecker, a Belgian-born industrial surveyor living in Switzerland and France, has been spending most of his weekends and holidays compiling a guide to the world’s oldest "art gallery" — the caves where Stone Age peoples living in Europe 40,000 years ago painted the animals of their time with astonishing realism and skill.

Stitches in time - Video

In a remote part of India, Chanda Shroff has established a movement to revive the traditional hand embroidery, creating a sustainable means of income for local women.

Rewriting human prehistory - Video

Since the bones of the earliest-known human ancestors to venture out of Africa came to light at Dmanisi, Georgia, in 1991, palaeanthropologist David Lordkipanidze has led the excavation, under challenging economic and political circumstances, of what is now regarded as one of the world’s foremost prehistoric sites.

School on the taiga - Video

In south-eastern Siberia, a nomadic people are trying to preserve their way of life against the march of modern society. For eight years Alexandra Lavrillier, a brilliant French ethnologist, has been fighting alongside them to save their heritage, setting up a nomadic school that will give Evenk children the chance to receive a modern education without having to sacrifice their ancestral traditions.

A village devoted to silk - Video

Moved by the failure of Cambodia’s countryside to recover from decades of war, silk expert Kikuo Morimoto left his job in Thailand in the 1990s to set up silk-fabrication workshops in the hinterlands of Cambodia. His goal was to help impoverished villagers resurrect traditional silk production.

Treasures in the desert - Video

In the middle of the Kara Kum desert in the Central Asian republic of Turkmenistan lies Merv, three ancient cities full of archaeological treasures and knowledge of the past. Dr Georgina Herrmann, a 1996 Rolex Award Laureate, is one of the driving forces behind the international effort to unearth and understand the secrets of the area.

The fabric of history - Video

Cristina Bubba Zamora has spent more than a decade fighting the illegal traffic in Bolivian ceremonial weavings.

The sounds of Mexico’s heart - Video

Eduardo Llerenas was a respected professor of biochemistry when he won a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 1981 for a project to preserve Mexico’s rich musical heritage. He is now the director of an independent music label and is considered by ethnomusicologists to be the world expert on Mexican traditional music.

Science at the service of art - Video

Over the past 40 years, John Asmus’ life has taken many unexpected turns. Initially involved in nuclear propulsion in space, Asmus moved on to become one of the world’s foremost high-tech art conservators whose work has embraced such diverse artistic treasures as the Mona Lisa and China’s ancient terracotta army.

Conserving the ancient beauty of Petra - Rolex Awards

Talal Akasheh has devoted much of his life to conserving the World Heritage Site at Petra in Jordan from the ravages of erosion, time and tourism.

A user’s guide to Bhutan’s heritage - Rolex Awards

On a trek through Bhutan in 1992, art restorer Sabine Cotte was struck by the beauty of the tiny kingdom’s ancient fortresses and temples – but also by the buildings’ cracked walls and crumbling foundations.

Footprints to the past - Rolex Awards

Prehistoric animal tracks at Pehuen Có in Argentina are threatened by rising sea levels and human destruction but the pioneering efforts of palaeontologist Teresa Manera de Bianco are helping to preserve them.

Telling ancient tales - Rolex Awards

A young Italian woman has set up a storytelling school to preserve Afghanistan’s oral heritage, give hope to the country’s youth and spread crucial development information.

World’s oldest art gallery - Rolex Awards

Recognizing the window that European cave paintings open on prehistoric lifestyles and beliefs, Luc Jean-François Debecker has spent decades documenting the world’s oldest “art galleries” - the caves where Stone Age peoples recorded early life.

Science at the service of art - Rolex Awards

For more than 40 years, John Asmus’s work has taken many unexpected turns, from nuclear propulsion in space to high-tech art conservation.

The lessons of Maya art - Rolex Awards

Belgian archaeologist and art historian Martine Fettweis-Viénot has made painstaking copies of ancient murals from Mexico and Guatemala, leading her to new theories about their role in Maya society.

A whistling world - Rolex Awards

Under siege by modern communications, whistled and drummed languages are fast disappearing and survive only in remote biodiverse hotspots where people live in isolation. French bio-acoustician and linguist Julien Meyer is preserving these ancient modes of communication, which are at the interface between language and music.

A village devoted to silk - Rolex Awards

Kikuo Morimoto has revived the ancient silk-making tradition from near-extinction in war-ravaged Cambodia, training new weavers and creating self-sustaining workshops.

Rewriting human prehistory - Rolex Awards

Since 1991, palaeoanthropologist David Lordkipanidze has led an international team excavating one of the world’s foremost prehistoric sites where the bones of the earliest-known human ancestors to venture out of Africa have come to light.

Hidden riches of the Himalayas - Rolex Awards

For more than 30 years, George van Driem has trekked the Himalayas on a mission to save the region’s indigenous languages from extinction.

Canada’s diverse voices - Rolex Awards

Dora Nipp’s extensive oral history interviews documenting the lives and experiences of Canada’s immigrants celebrate their ethnic diversity and explore the contribution they have made to their new homeland.

The fabric of history - Rolex Awards

Antiquity is woven into the sacred textiles of Bolivia’s mountain communities. But hundreds of these precious fabrics were stolen and sold to collectors in North America, depriving them of key artefacts of their cultural heritage.

Treasures in the desert - Rolex Awards

Dr Georgina Herrmann has been a key figure in unearthing the archaeological treasures of Merv on the ancient Silk Route in Central Asia.

Race to save ancient cities - Rolex Awards

Archaeologist Catherine Abadie-Reynal faced a race against the clock when the construction of a dam in Turkey was set to flood two ancient cities.

Stitches in time - Rolex Awards

More than 22,000 women in India’s rugged Kutch region in the state of Gujarat have seen their lives transformed thanks to Chanda Shroff who revived the exquisite traditional hand embroidery to create a sustainable income for local women.

The sounds of Mexico’s heart - Rolex Awards

Eduardo Llerenas was a professor of biochemistry until he transformed his life mid-career, devoting his time to preserving Mexico’s rich musical heritage.

School on the taiga - Rolex Awards

Children in the wilds of Siberia no longer have to be separated from their parents to get an education thanks to Alexandra Lavrillier, who has established a mobile school that brings together a modern curriculum and the vanishing Evenk culture.

Ancient Maya’s modern teachings - Rolex Awards

Archaeologist and anthropologist Anabel Ford has spent four decades studying the Maya civilization, principally at the vast and ancient city of El Pilar, which she discovered on the border of today’s Belize and Guatemala.

A passion for architecture - Arts

When Rolex constructs or expands its headquarters and production facilities, it brings the same attention to aesthetics and detail as it gives to designing one of its prized chronometers.

An interview with Martin Scorsese - Rolex and Cinema

To future filmmakers Martin Scorsese says: “Don’t be afraid to try anything, no matter how crazy it might seem to others.” These are encouraging words from this director, producer and screenwriter who is responsible for many of the biggest classics in film history. He is always pushing boundaries and helping to promote the creative spark in others.

An interview with James Cameron - Rolex and Cinema

James Cameron is acknowledged for using trail-blazing technology in his films, but when it comes to advice for emerging filmmakers he says to “stay in touch with the human heart”. The director of <i>Titanic</i> and <i>Avatar</i> believes nothing is more important than “speaking with an authentic voice and portraying the human condition at its most elemental level”.

To a future filmmaker

Filmmakers Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Kathryn Bigelow have each made an enduring impact on cinema. They inspire the next generation of filmmakers to pursue their own ideas with the uncompromising passion that characterizes their own work.

James Cameron, the art of storytelling

James Cameron represents the pinnacle of filmmaking, with a boldness of vision and focus on technical innovation evident throughout his many movies. <i>Titanic</i>, which won 11 Oscars®, is tied for the most awards ever, while Avatar holds the record as the highest-grossing film in history.

Celebrating masters of cinema

The history of cinema has been defined by the work of those who combine exquisite artistry with technical mastery. Rolex is proud to support Oscar-winning directors Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, as they continue to push the boundaries of the art of filmmaking.