{"id":3765,"date":"2020-02-12T13:23:35","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T13:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=3765"},"modified":"2020-02-13T10:27:19","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T10:27:19","slug":"rolex-arts-weekend-desire-floats-arts-boat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=3765","title":{"rendered":"Rolex Arts Weekend: Desire floats art sponsor’s boat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Rolex Arts Weekend at the Baxter Theatre Centre \u2013 Cape Town, 8 February 2020\nDance: When the Night Comes by Khoudia Tour\u00e9 with dancers from Compagnie La Mer Noir.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re an artist and you\u2019re just beginning to gain recognition. What you most desire is time to create, and access to a mentor who can help you make an international career breakthrough. Along comes Rolex. An international luxury brand with an impeccable reputation for excellence, and offers you exactly what you could barely dream of wishing for: time, resources, a mentor, and no expectations other than wearing your Rolex watch and standing at a lectern to thank them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThis is exactly what Rolex,\nthrough their Mentor & Prot\u00e9g\u00e9 programme, have been offering\nartists across a variety of disciplines since 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Imagine being a film maker mentored by Martin Scorsese, as was Celina Murga in 2008 and 2009. Or a musician and working with Youssou N\u2019Dour, as Aurelio Martinez did in that cycle. Or ending up co-writing a zombie novella online for Wattpad<\/a> with Margaret Atwood, as prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Naomi Alderma did in 2012 and 2013. And so it goes, including visual art, dance, architecture, and theatre – a discipline in which Baxter CEO Lara Foot was mentored by the late Sir Peter Hall after being selected to participate in the second round of mentorships during 2004 and 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was during this period Foot staged the gut-wrenching Tshepang<\/em>, during which a performer has had to step into the audience to comfort a weeping boy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be nominated, and then to be ushered into, the Mentor & Prot\u00e9g\u00e9 programme is an opportunity that seems too incredible to exist for any artist. It’s like winning the Lotto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe filmed interviews with all\n54 mentors and prot\u00e9g\u00e9s, which were screened continuously in the\nBaxter\u2019s Golden Arrow Studio during this past weekend when the\nRolex Mentor & Prot\u00e9g\u00e9 2018\/19 cycle came to wind up in Cape\nTown, revealed the beauty of minds meeting and creativity manifesting\nin a sweep of staggering work. All seemingly effortlessly buoyed by\nthe generosity of the mentors and the Geneva-based resources ticking\nin the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe lavish shindig at the end of\neach cycle and the announcement of the next, has taken place eight\ntimes in cities around the world before coming to the Baxter Theater\ncentre for the ninth. Over 100 people, including past prot\u00e9g\u00e9s and\na bevy of media, were flown in from other countries to join the\nscores of locals who were hosted at exclusive events and invited to\nbe privy to unique conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nOn Saturday there was the world\npremier of When the Night Comes<\/em>\nby Khoudia Tour\u00e9, a Senegalese hip-hop dancer who was mentored by\nchoreographer Crystal Pite. Tour\u00e9, together with dancers from the\ncompany she pioneered, Compagnie La Mer Noir, staged a darkly\nthrilling work that drew tears from the chest as its fierce movement\ngrabbed us by the lapels with restrained violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThen there was a discussion\nbetween architect Mariam Kamara and her mentor, Africa\u2019s most\nfamous architect, Sir David Adjaye, on a cultural centre for the\npublic in Niger that Kamara has designed. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nPrior to these, in the morning\nwas a conversation between Lara Foot, filmmaker Annemarie Jacir,\nmusician Yo-Yo Ma, and Wole Soyinka, moderated by Professor Homi K\nBhabha. It was, for the most part, unfortunate. The one misstep by\nthe corporate sponsor whose presence was largely understated. It\u2019s\nbad form to talk about the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But bringing tennis superstar Roger Federer onto stage three quarters of the way through a fascinating conversation about polarization conducted by the finest intellectual minds was a rather nouveau riche move. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rolex Arts Weekend at the Baxter Theatre Centre \u2013 Cape Town, 8 February 2020 Moderator: Prof. Homi K. Bhabha (center) leads The Rolex Conversations: Arts in Times of Polarization Panelists: Director and playwright Lara Foot, author Wole Soyinka, filmmaker Annemarie Jacir, Rolex Testimonee Roger Federer and musician Yo-Yo Ma.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\nTo explain this, we need to\nbacktrack a day. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe Rolex Arts Weekend was\npreceded by the Match in Africa between Federer and Rafael Nadal at\nthe Cape Town Stadium, for which Rolex was also a sponsor. That they\nmanaged to combine the star-studded fund-raising tennis match (Bill\nGates and Trevor Noah also took to the court) with the Mentor &\nProt\u00e9g\u00e9 weekend is testimony to\nthe watchmaking brand\u2019s clout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThis was the most exciting thing\nto happen for tennis in Africa in, like, forever, and a world-record\nbreaking 51 954 people attended. International and some local\nmedia, and special guests received tickets (worth R1 950 each)\nand were feted with a plethora of food and champagne at a luxe marque\nbefore and after the match. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nFederer is a Rolex ambassador.\nYet despite the international airtime provided by the Friday night\nmatch, it was decided to also usher him onto the Baxter stage on\nSaturday morning, seemingly just to ensure the few hundred people in\nattendance also got the message (just in case they were unaware of\nthe #matchinafrica).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It brought what had been a fascinating conversation \u2013 although one not without its own problems \u2013 to a dead halt. The converse would be the quality of tennis displayed if you were to walk Wole Soyinka onto Wimbledon to serve in the middle of a Federer\/Nadal final. This is not to take away from Federer, but his expertise is not the pursuit of intellectual ideas, it is the pursuit of using a racquet to accurately return a spherical object traveling at about 150kph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rubbing in the salt, the symposium was just at the point where it may have rectified some glaring stumbles which took place prior to Federer\u2019s entrance. These had nothing to do with the sponsor, but lay on Prof Bhabha and Ma\u2019s shoulders. Soyinka can also shoulder some of the blame: the two women on the panel were largely excluded. Partly due to Soyinka taking up large chunks of airtime (even though what he had to say was considered and of interest), but mostly due to Bhabha\u2019s questions to Jacir being nonsensical and bordering on patronising. Ma then made himself guilty of the most patronising act of all, which was reframing Bhabha\u2019s question to Jacir as she struggled to graciously bat it back. Ma\u2019s was a cringe-worthy bro-move that inferred the highbrow conversation needed to be dumbed down for Jacir’s benefit rather than requiring Bhabha to put his thoughts in order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nHowever, we got through that,\nand in the Sunday symposium, which was the second day\u2019s first\nevent, Bhabha appeared to have taken his lesson, with the resulting\nconversation between poet Tracy K Smith, William Kentridge, theatre\ndirector Robert Wilson, and film director Mira Nair, being much more\ninclusive. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThis was followed by an\nabsolutely lovely discussion between literature mentor Colm T\u00f3ib\u00edn\nand prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Colin Barrett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The publicly accessible events then ended off with a spectacular world premier of Pulse<\/em>, a composition for drums, chamber ensemble and spoken word written by music prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Marcus Gilmore. Gilmore and mentor Zakir Hussain also provided a rare duo performance of mind blowing percussive brilliance as drums and tabla roared and whispered to, and with, each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout, and in the mingling between, all of this, there was an undercurrent of awe, both at the privilege of being witness to the quality and stature of creative expression on show, and at Rolex\u2019s generosity and vision in creating these unique opportunities for artists. This awe was complex. For on each side of it ran desire and envy. Desire to be selected for such an illustrious opportunity, and envy \u2013 although largely of the innocuous sort – of the chosen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSmall things give big things\naway, and clues to the truth are often found in the unspoken, the\nnon-verbal. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAt the exclusive celebration of\nthe 2018\/19 cycle on Saturday evening \u2013 after which a lavish\ncocktail dinner was served on the newly-landscaped terrace \u2013 each\nmentor took a turn at the lectern to speak briefly about the process\nbefore inviting their prot\u00e9g\u00e9 to do the same. All expressed their\ngratitude to Rolex and to each other. None thanked their families.\nThe entire experience of the weekend seemed to create an aura of\nnon-attachment. The kind of creative and personal freedom only wealth\ncan provide. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWhen Colin Barrett arrived at\nthe lectern, he began by thanking Rolex for the opportunity of being\nmentored by T\u00f3ib\u00edn. This was similar to the prot\u00e9g\u00e9\nwho preceded him, and the ones who came after. But literature is\narguably the most introspective of the arts, and unlike his\ncompatriots, Barrett\u2019s voice stumbled on the first syllables, and\nas he thanked Rolex, he shifted his (Rolex) wristwatch under his\nsleeve. It was a small movement in two or three parts, as the\nbracelet did not slide up freely. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThis one gesture \u2013 and we must\naccept the honesty of the non-verbal, the barely-concealed nervous\ntic \u2013 was where truth peeked through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nFor the artist must have, if not\na social conscience, at least a social awareness. Without it they\ncease to be engaged in art and become engaged in advertising, even if\nonly of themselves. Yet the corporation has no conscience. It cannot,\nas it is not a conscious entity. It exists for the sole reason of\ncreating financial value to shareholders through the production of\nwhatever object or service it provides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWhat then, is the artist\u2019s\nresponsibility to critique, if not the sponsoring corporation itself,\nbut the system in which the corporate benefactor operates? And do\nthese mentors and prot\u00e9g\u00e9\u2019s every engage in such critique, or are\nthey seduced by the provisions of their patron? And why should they\nnot be seduced? Other than apparently having moved its company\nregistration from London to Geneva after World War I to avoid heavy\nBritish taxes, no scandal seems to stick to Rolex. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artists are of course free to create whatever work they choose and undoubtedly have, and will continue, to communicate ideas through their work that ask questions of global and local societies within which we struggle. Foot’s Tshepang<\/em> is a blistering critique of sexual violence in South African society, for example, and Kamara has used her position as prot\u00e9g\u00e9 to design a publicly accessible cultural centre in Niamey, Niger. They may even communicate ideas about the most pressing issue of our time, global heating, which the combined carbon footprint of the Rolex Arts Weekend probably ratcheted up a notch. So it may be churlish to have any expectation of critique from the prot\u00e9g\u00e9\u2019s as they appear on their patron\u2019s stage. Yet, one cannot help but feel uneasy in the presence of such obvious wealth and expenditure and exclusivity in the face of the deep inequality that currently exists. Not just global inequality, but so local as to be seen walking past on the street outside the venue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just the value of the Rolexes displayed on wrists at the occasion could reduce Cape Town\u2019s poverty levels by a number of percentage points, or build a new school. The neo-liberal argument that creating success for the artists trickles down to create opportunities and possibilities of success for others has been the subject of screeds of critique proving it doesn\u2019t hold much water. The trickle soon disappears in a desert of desperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nHow\ndo the prot\u00e9g\u00e9\u2019s\nsquare this up? Is it even possible? After all, it\u2019s a question, a\ntension, that has existed since the first patron supported\nthe arts. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the tension does not lie in any possible moral compromise from accepting Rolex\u2019s largesse. The tension may lie in the realm of desire itself. The desire to be able to earn, through hard work and the focused application of our own talents, the opportunity the Mentor & Prot\u00e9g\u00e9 programme offers. But the desire to earn such an opportunity is based on the illusion of meritocracy. In reality, it is a gift rather than a reward. The hard work and application of talent buys the ticket, but being nominated has a lot to do with luck; being seen by the right people, at the right time, in the right place, and having had the means to have made the journey in the first place. And then to be chosen requires a meeting of minds with the mentor, which is the pure chance of personality and mutual interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue that needs to be addressed is the scarcity of this kind of support. It is so rare that the resultant desire to benefit from it, to be catapulted into a realm of being free to create, may threaten the desire to hold true to translating the world through artistic form. To paraphrase Lara Foot\u2019s input at the Saturday symposium, to create art as the unifying force that holds the polarities of this world \u2013 which Soyinka named as power and freedom \u2013 from tearing society apart. For if anything was made apparent this weekend, it is that wealth cuts people off from societal reality. It has an insulating, and immunising effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is only when patronage and support such as Rolex offers becomes more common, when opportunities, whether from the private or public sector, exist in abundance, that any semblance of meritocracy in the arts can begin to exist. At the minimum we should remain aware that for every prot\u00e9g\u00e9 selected for the Rolex programme, there exists hundreds of artists as talented and hardworking, if not more so, who are not seen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rolex Mentor & Prot\u00e9g\u00e9 programme is an exception, and outlier. As we celebrate their support for artists and art, our applause should be countered with the knowledge that this is not as it should be. It should not have to be this desirable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Mentor & Prot\u00e9g\u00e9 2020\/2021 cycle, American filmmaker Spike Lee has chosen to work with Kyle Bell, 33, United States; British director Phyllida Lloyd with Whitney White, 33, United States; and American artist Carrie Mae Weems with Camila Rodr\u00edguez Triana, 34, Colombia. American composer, lyricist and actor Lin-Manuel Miranda will choose his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 in the coming weeks. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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