Current

Rome Prize Fellows and Projects

The American Academy in Rome awards the Rome Prize to a select group of artists and scholars, after an application process that begins in the fall of each year. The winners, announced in the spring, are invited to Rome to pursue their work in an atmosphere conducive to intellectual and artistic freedom, interdisciplinary exchange, and innovation. The 2011-12 Rome Prize winners are listed here with a brief project summary in their own words.

To download the brochure from the Rome Prize Ceremony held in New York on 13 April, 2011, announcing the 2011-2012 Rome Prize winners click here.

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Design

Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize
Colin Gee

Theater Artist, Brooklyn, NY

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Colin Gee
“Frontier”, production design

 

“I will use this residency to create the production design for Frontier, a solo theatrical opera, comprised of nested stories inspired by John Ford's 1956 film, The Searchers. While in Rome, I will complete the scenography, video, writing, and performance elements. The design of this work interprets the notion of ‘frontier’, both as a boundary between psychological states, as well as a geographical boundary seen from the perspective of an individual.  
The design will address three aspects common to frontier, landscape and perspective: the authority of an environmental barrier, the function of a landmark within an expansive landscape, and the perspective of the ego, the ‘I’, within this framework.  Regarding performance technique, a single performer will interpret all of the characters within a series of locations. This continual perspective shift between characters will be accompanied by changes in performance genres, from historical Melodrama, to Tragedy, Clown, and Commedia dell'Arte.”
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Rolland Rome Prize
Jiminie Ha

Creative Director/Founder, W/ —— Project Space, New York, NY

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Jiminie Ha
The Design of Constraints

“My proposal for the Rome prize is to explore the design of constraints as a curatorial method to create new platforms for the making and experiencing of contemporary art. By replacing the formalized constraints of art institutions with an invented set of rules in alternative spaces I will investigate how designing limitations can create ephemeral yet potent experiences with art. There are 5 phases: (1) the mapping and identification of environments which possess amplified spatial and temporal qualities (2) Establishing a set of parameters/constraints (3) collaboration with artists (4) activation and installation of work in spaces (5) documentation of the temporary work and installations in publication format.”

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