Author(s): Margery Arent Safir

Design

Through 25 interviews with prominent figures in the performing and visual arts worlds, this is a complete and revelatory portrait of Robert Wilson and his inspired craft. Robert Wilson has put his original stamp on masterpieces from "Mozart's The Magic Flute" and "Puccini's Madame Butterfly" to William Shakespeare's sonnets. Through his extraordinary use of light and his understanding of the significance of language in theater and the importance of movement on stage, gleaned from his experience as a dancer, Wilson has become one of the world's most esteemed and revolutionary figures working in theater today. Wilson is well-known for pushing the boundaries of theater, and has won over sixty awards and honors for his work, including a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, an Obie, two Guggenheim Fellowship awards and the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement.
A critical text features interviews with twenty-five world-renowned artists, composers, actors, writers, theater directors, costume designers, scenographers, scholars, and curators who offer their perspectives on Wilsons work and on working with Wilson. The artist and his craft are elucidated by Marina Abramovic, Pierre Berge, Daniel Conrad, Giuseppe Frigeni, Gao Xingjian, Philip Glass, Sacha Goldman, Jonathan Harvey, Isabelle Huppert, Ivan Nagel, John Rockwell, Viktor & Rolf, Serge von Arx, Rufus Wainwright, and Robert Wilson himself. His creative development is further documented through images chosen by the artist for this publication, and a list of his complete works completes the monograph. This book celebrates the singular achievements of this unique artist, from his earliest works to his collaborations with the Berliner Ensemble to his most recent work, "The Life and Death of Marina Abramovic".