About the artists

Robert Wilson. Photograph by Horst. Courtesy Byrd Hoffman Foundation

Robert Wilson

Since the late 1960s, Robert Wilson's productions have decisively shaped the look of theatre and opera. Through his signature use of light, his investigations into the structure of a simple movement, and the classical rigour of his scenic and furniture design, Wilson has continuously articulated the force and originality of his vision. Wilson's close ties and collaborations with leading artists, writers, and musicians continue to fascinate audiences worldwide.

Of Wilson's artistic career, Susan Sontag has added “it has the signature of a major artistic creation. I can't think of any body of work as large or as influential.” A native of Waco, Texas, Wilson was educated at the University of Texas and arrived in New York in 1963 to attend Brooklyn's Pratt Institute. Soon thereafter, Wilson set to work with his Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds and, together with his company, developed his first signature. Regarded as a leader of Manhattan's then-burgeoning downtown art scene, Wilson turned his attention to large-scale opera and, with Philip Glass, created the monumental Einstein on the Beach (1976), which achieved worldwide acclaim and altered conventional notions of a moribund form.

Following Einstein, Wilson worked increasingly with major European theaters and opera houses. In collaboration with internationally renowned writers and performers, Wilson created landmark original works that were featured regularly at the Festival d'Automne in Paris, Der Berliner Ensemble, the Schaubühne in Berlin, the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, the Salzburg Festival, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival. Wilson continues to direct revivals of his most celebrated productions and recently completed an entirely new production, based on an epic poem from Indonesia, entitled I La Galigo, which toured extensively and appeared at the Lincoln Center Festival in the summer of 2005.

Wilson's practice is firmly rooted in the fine arts and his drawings, furniture designs, and installations have been exhibited in museums and galleries internationally. Each summer Wilson decamps to the Watermill Center, a laboratory for the arts and humanities in eastern Long Island. The Watermill Center brings together students and experienced professionals in a multi-disciplinary environment dedicated to creative collaboration.

Wilson's numerous awards and honors include an Obie award for direction, the Golden Lion for sculpture from the Venice Biennale, the 3rd Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for Lifetime Achievement, the Premio Europa award from Taormina Arte, two Guggenheim Fellowship awards, the Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship award, a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama, the Golden Lion for Sculpture from the Venice Biennale, election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement. He has been named a "Commandeur des arts et des letters" by the French Minister of Culture.

Hans Peter Kuhn

Hans Peter Kuhn is a sound artist and composer. Born in Kiel, Germany in 1952 his artistic career began early – a performance in a school play at 6 years old and a first rock ‘n’ roll band at 14.

By 1975 he was working with sound professionally. His first stage engagements saw him work as a sound engineer on several productions, bringing him together with Peter Stein, Luc Bondy and Klaus-Michael Gruber and – in his last season – Robert Wilson. This latter encounter led to a longstanding tradition of collaboration, taking in not just theatre but video and installation work; the two were joint recipients of the Golden Lion at the 1993 Venice Biennale for their installation Memory/Loss.

Alongside his sound and light installations Kuhn has worked on radio plays, performances and movie scores and continues to develop music and sound environments for theatre and – since 1989 – dance. In 1996, Kuhn was made a visiting professor at Justus-Liebig University, Giessen.