Acclaimed Director and Artist Robert Wilson to Visit Bennington College
The Dance and Drama programs at Bennington College are pleased to welcome director and artist Robert Wilson for a lecture and performance 7:00–9:00 pm Friday, September 20, at the Martha Hill Dance Theater in the campus’s Visual and Performing Arts Center. The New York Times has described Wilson as "[America]'s—or even the world's—foremost vanguard 'theater artist.'” The event is free and open to the public thanks to funding from the Peter Drucker Fund for Excellence and Innovation.
“When I first saw Robert Wilson’s work, I sat there and thought about ‘the audacity’ of his putting his vision on stage, challenging the audience to come and go over many hours and deal with an extraordinary mix of images, sounds, and silence,” said Jenny Rohn, faculty member in Drama. “And then, when I worked with him, I learned to trust my own instincts and revel in his world.”
Numerous images from moments throughout Wilson’s prolific career create an intimate self‐portrait of his creative process. Wilson will reference his landmark original works. At the conclusion of the performance, the audience will be invited to explore Wilson’s ideas further during an informal question‐and‐answer period.
For students, additional events include a screening of selections from his work, which is scheduled in advance of the visit, and an 8-hour workshop spanning two afternoons, Saturday and Sunday, September 21 and 22.
“When working with him on Einstein on the Beach, I was given the chance to inhabit his land of magic and find the power of active listening, seeing, and deciding, moment by moment,” said Dana Reitz, faculty member in Dance. “We believe it is important for our students to be introduced to and challenged by Wilson’s ongoing theatrical invention.”
Wilson will invite students to explore his aesthetic universe, his manner of working, and the creative process. Focusing on the foundational ingredients of text, motion, space, time (and maybe chairs), students will have a chance to do something they have not yet experienced. They will collaboratively make and alter short scenarios and ponder how changing any of the elements can shift expectations and conclusions.
“Bob’s work is rarely seen in the United States these days,” said Reitz. Rohn added, “This is a remarkable opportunity for our community to be exposed to not only his body of work but also the way he addresses the interconnectedness of today’s global artistic community.”
Wilson was born in Waco, Texas. His works for the stage unconventionally integrate a wide variety of artistic media, including dance, movement, lighting, sculpture, music and text. His images have been called “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, Jessye Norman, and Anna Calvi. He has also left his imprint on masterworks such as Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Brecht/Weill’s Threepenny Opera, Debussy’s Pelléas et Melisande, Goethe’s Faust, Homer’s Odyssey, Jean de la Fontaine’s Fables, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Verdi’s La Traviata, and several of Shakespeare’s works.
Wilson's drawings, paintings, and sculptures have been presented around the world in hundreds of solo and group shows, 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, as well as the German Academy of the Arts, and holds eight Honorary Doctorate degrees. He is a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters and Officer of the Legion of Honor in France, bearer of the German Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit, and laureate of the 2023 Praemium Imperiale. He is the founder and Artistic Director of The Watermill Center, a laboratory for the Arts in Water Mill, New York.
About Bennington College
Bennington College is a liberal arts college in southwestern Vermont that has distinguished itself as a vanguard institution within American higher education. It was the first to include the visual and performing arts in a liberal arts education. It is the only college to require that its students spend a term—every year—at work in the world. Bennington students work intensively with faculty to forge individual educational paths around their driving questions and interests.