Robert Wilson has died

Summary

Robert Wilson, a visionary artist best known for his highly visual and stylised approach to theatrical performances, has died, aged 83. According to a statement released by the Watermill Center, the arts organisation he founded in Water Mill, New York, Wilson died at his home there on Thursday (31 July) following “a brief but acute illness”.“While facing his diagnosis with clear eyes and determination, he still felt compelled to keep working and creating right up until the very end,” the statement notes. “His works for the stage, on paper, sculptures and video portraits, as well as The Watermill Center, will endure as Robert Wilson’s artistic legacy.”Wilson was one of the most critically distinguished and distinctive directors and playwrights of the past half-century. His original productions—including the “silent opera” Deafman Glance (1970) and his canonic, epic collaboration with the composer Philip Glass, Einstein on the Beach (1976)—are in frequent production at theatres, opera houses and festivals around the world. As are his adaptations of classical works by Bertolt Brecht, William Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett, Virginia Woolf and others.His works for the stage were known for a stylised dramaturgy that rejected naturalism. They drew on a wide range of musical collaborators from Glass to Tom Waits and Lou Reed, as well as performance modes drawn from silent film, mime and more. Their bold visual aesthetic typically involved sleek, minimalist stages and imaginative uses of lighting and projection.“I very often stage a work—whether it’s The Ring of Wagner or Hamlet—visually first, and then later I add text,” he told The Guardian in 2022. “The visual book is as important as the audio.”A scene from a 2012 staging of Robert Wilson and Philip Glass's Einstein on the Beach (1976) Photo © Lucie JanschSome of Wilson’s stage projects are also known for their incredibly long durations; Einstein on the Beach stretches to nearly five hours, and attendees are encouraged to co...