Robert Wilson has over the decades, created some of the most important and memorable works in contemporary theater. While crafting stunning set designs, arresting lighting and radical choreography, he has created an artificiality of the stage where time and space are redrawn and the experience of the audience reimagined. This radical, highly original synthesis of vision, sound and text are the hallmarks of the theater of Robert Wilson. On moving to New York in the 1960s, he founded the experimental performance collective “Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds.” Internationally, his reputation was built with the 1971 performance in France of
Deafman Glance. However, the opera,
Einstein on the Beach, co-created with Philip Glass really cemented his international career when it premiered in 1976. Wilson has also brought his highly original approach to existing operas, choral works and plays. The visual lexicon of Robert Wilson is not limited to the theater. His creativity includes drawings, sculpture, furniture design, choreography, glass work and photography. He is also the artistic director of The Watermill Center, a laboratory for the Arts that he founded in 1992 in Long Island, New York.
Robert Wilson, has over the decades, created some of the most important and memorable works in the theatre. While crafting stunning set designs, arresting lighting and radical choreography, he has created an artificiality of the stage where time and space are redrawn and the experience of the audience reimagined. This radical, highly original synthesis of vision, sound and text are the hallmarks of the theatre of Robert Wilson.
At the heart of much of his vision is Texas, his birthplace: “I think the landscape of Texas, where I grew up is in all of my work. Texas has very big skies and open spaces and I can see the landscape being in my head and my mind and all of the work that I do.”
In the 1960s Wilson moved from Texas to New York to study architecture but soon became involved with the burgeoning avant-garde theatre of the period, establishing in 1968, an experimental performance collective, Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds. During this period, he was exposed to and was inspired by the performances and choreography of George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham. “I was particularly interested in the abstract works of Balanchine. They were time space constructions and his constructions are classical formulars that had a tremendous influence on me.”
In 1971 the performance of
Deafman Glance in France brought Wilson international recognition. However, it was the opera,
Einstein on the Beach, a collaboration with composer Philip Glass, first performed in 1976, that truly cemented his international reputation. At almost 5 hours in duration and without a conventional narration, the opera shocked and thrilled audiences in equal measure. Still performed today, Wilson maintains that the structure was classical – though its gestation was unusual – starting with drawings by Wilson, followed by the music by Glass.
Throughout his career, Wilson has also brought his highly original approach to existing operas, choral works and plays. “Light, sound, a text, all have equal importance and very often I work on them separately. I stage it silently first, later I put the sound with it but each one is independently structured and then you put them all together and you see how they complement each other.” What theatre goers know is that if Wilson is the director, they will experience the work in a new, sometimes difficult, but always exciting way.
The visual lexicon of Robert Wilson is not limited to the theater. His creativity includes drawings, sculpture, furniture design, choreography, glass work and photography. He is also the artistic director of The Watermill Center, a laboratory for the Arts that he founded in 1992 in Long Island, New York.
Wilson has been honored with numerous awards for excellence, including the Golden Lion of the Venice Biennale and an Olivier Award. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the German Academy of the Arts, and holds 8 Honorary Doctorate degrees. France pronounced him Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Officier de la Légion d'honneur; Germany awarded him the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit.
