TOP Laureate Robert Wilson

The 34th

Laureate

Theatre/ Film

Robert Wilson

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.

Biography

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.

Chronology

1941
Born in Waco,Texan,USA
1965
Bachelor of Fine Arts of Pratt Institute,New York
1968
Founded the Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds
1969
The Byrd Hoffman Foundation chartered in New York
1970
Deafman Glance at the Center for New Performing Arts,Iowa,USA
1972
KA MOUNTAIN AND GUARDenia TERRACE: a story about a family and some people changing,a 7-day play at Haft Tan Mountain,Shiraz,Iran
1976
Einstein on the Beach at the Festival d’Avignon,Avignon,France
1979
Death,Destruction & Detroit at the Schaubühne in Berlin
1984
Workshop of The CIVIL warS : a tree is best measured when it is down in Tokyo
1986
Received a Pulitzer Prize nomination
Hamletmachine at New York University
1990
The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets at the Thalia Theater,Hamburg,Germany
1992
Founded The Watermill Center
1993
Golden Lion for sculpture of 45th Venice Biennale
Madama Butterfly at the Opéra Bastille,Paris,France
1994
Hanjo / Hagoromo : Japanese Diptych,at Teatro della Pergola,Firenze,Italy
Founding Member of Theatre Olympics International Committee
1995
HAMLET: a monologue at the Alley Theatre,Houston,Texas
1996
The Dorothy & Lillian Gish Prize,USA
2000
Honorary Member of American Academy of Arts and Letters
2003
Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres,France
2004
I La Galigo at the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay,Singapore
2005
General direction of Outdoor event,In The Evening at KOI POND,EXPO 2005 Aichi,Japan
Designed his first HD Video Portraits
2013
Best New Opera Production of the Olivier Award for Einstein on the Beach,a collaboration with Philip Glass
2014
Officier de la Légion d'honneur,France
Officer's Cross Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
2015
La Traviata at the Landestheater Linz,Austria
2018
Turandot at the Teatro Real,Madrid,Spain
2019
Mary Said What She Said (Isabelle Huppert in the title role) at Espace Cardin,Paris
2022
Dorian at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus,Düsseldorf,Germany
  • Einstein on the Beach, 2012

  • With Philip Glass, 2012

  • Letter to a Man, Spoleto, 2015

  • Arvo Pärt: Adam’s Passion, Tallinn, 2015

  • At the collection archive, May 2023

  • At his office, May 2023

Einstein on the Beach, Montpellier, France, 2012
Kneeplay 1
Photo © Lucie Jansch
Courtesy of RW Work, Ltd.

With Philip Glass, 2012
Courtesy of RW Work, Ltd.

Letter to a Man, Spoleto, 2015
Scene 1 A
One-person play by Mikhail Baryshnikov
Photo © Lucie Jansch
Courtesy of RW Work, Ltd.

Arvo Pärt: Adam’s Passion, Tallinn, 2015
Michalis Theophanous (Man)
Photo © Kristian Kruuser / Kaupo Kikkas
Courtesy of RW Work, Ltd.

At the collection archive of The Watermill Center
Long Island, New York, NY, May 2023
© The Japan Art Association / The Sankei Shimbun

At his office in The Watermill Center
Long Island, New York, NY, May 2023
© The Japan Art Association / The Sankei Shimbun