Robert Wilson

An artist recreates history, not like a historian, but as a poet. The artist takes the communal ideas and associations that surround the various gods of his or her time and plays with them, inventing another story for these mythic characters.

Robert Wilson in conversations with Umberto Eco, Performing Arts Journal, January 1993
The  New  York  Times  described  Robert  Wilson  as  “a  towering  figure  in  the  world  of  experimental  theater  and  an  explorer  in  the  uses of  time  and  space  on  stage.” Born  in Waco, Texas, Wilson  is  among  the  world’s  foremost  theater  and  visual  artists. His  works  for the  stage  unconventionally  integrate  a  wide  variety  of  artistic  media,  including dance,  movement,  lighting,  sculpture,  music  and  text. His images  are  aesthetically  striking  and  emotionally  charged,  and  his  productions  have  earned  the  acclaim  of  audiences and  critics worldwide.
After  being  educated  at  the  University  of  Texas  and  Brooklyn’s  Pratt  Institute,  Wilson  founded  the  New  York-based performance collective  “The  Byrd  Hoffman  School  of Byrds”  in  the  mid 1960s,  and  developed  his  first  signature  works,  including Deafman  Glance (1970)  and  A  Letter  for  Queen  Victoria  (1974–1975).  With  Philip  Glass  he  wrote the  seminal  opera  Einstein  on  the  Beach  (1976).
Wilson’s  artistic  collaborators  include  many  writers  and  musicians  such  as  Heiner  Müller,  Tom  Waits,  Susan  Sontag,  Laurie  Anderson, William  Burroughs,  Lou  Reed  and Jessye  Norman.  He  has  also  left  his  imprint  on  masterworks  such  as  Beckett’s  Krapp’s  Last  Tape,  Puccini’s  Madama  Butterfly,  Debussy’s  Pelléas  et  Melisande,  Brecht/Weill’s Threepenny  Opera,  Büchner’s  Woyzeck,  Jean  de  la Fontaine’s  Fables  and  Homer’s  Odyssey. Wilson’s  drawings,  paintings  and  sculptures  have  been  presented  around  the  world in hundreds  of  solo  and  group  showings,  and  his  works  are  held  in  private  collections  and  museums  throughout  the  world.
Wilson  has been  honored  with  numerous  awards  for  excellence,  including  a  Pulitzer  Prize  nomination,  two  Premio  Ubu  awards,  the Golden  Lion of  the  Venice  Biennale,  and an Olivier  Award.  He  was  elected  to  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Letters  and  France pronounced  him  Commandeur  des  Arts  et  des  Lettres. Wilson  is  the  founder  and  Artistic  Director  of  The  Watermill  Center,  a laboratory  for  performing  arts  in  Watermill,  New  York.

Projects Then

Einstein on the Beach