Experience a rare performative lecture by visionary director and artist Robert Wilson
SCAD is honored to host avant-garde director and visual artist Robert Wilson for a special performance of his lecture 1. HAVE YOU BEEN HERE BEFORE, 2. NO THIS IS THE FIRST TIME. Combining hundreds of striking images from throughout his prolific career, Wilson provides an experimental self‐portrait of his creative process. He references his landmark original works for the stage such as Deafman Glance (1970), A Letter for Queen Victoria (1974–75), Einstein on the Beach (1976, created with composer Philip Glass), The CIVIL warS (1984), and The Black Rider (1990, created with musician Tom Waits and writer William S. Burroughs). Wilson also cites his acclaimed work within the canonical operatic and theatrical repertoire, including his luminous stagings of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Wagner’s Ring Cycle, Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, and Müller’s Quartett. After the performance, Wilson invites the audience to engage in a discussion of the vanguard ideas his work proposes during an informal Q-&-A session.
The performance is presented as part of SCAD deFINE ART 2020, the university’s annual program of exhibitions, lectures, and performances held Feb. 18–20 at university locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia.
About the artist
Wilson is among the world’s foremost theater and visual artists. His works for the stage unconventionally integrate a wide variety of artistic mediums, 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.
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 and A Letter for Queen Victoria. With Philip Glass he wrote the seminal opera Einstein on the Beach.
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. His drawings, paintings, and sculptures have been presented internationally 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, as well as the German Academy of the Arts, and holds eight honorary doctorate degrees. France pronounced him Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters and Officer of the Legion of Honor; Germany awarded him the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit.
Wilson is the founder and artistic director of The Watermill Center, a laboratory for the arts in Water Mill, New York.