The Watermill Center is a center for the arts and humanities in

Water Mill, New York Water Mill is a hamlet and a census-designated place (CDP) within the Town of Southampton on Long Island in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 1,559 at the 2010 census. Its ZIP Code is 11976. As of 2010, Wate ...

, founded in 1992 by artist and theater director Robert Wilson.

Overview

The Watermill Center is "a laboratory for performance" founded by Robert Wilson in 1992 on the site of a former Western Union research facility. The Watermill Center is located in

, and was officially opened to the public in 2006. Its programming currently consists of year-round artist residencies and exhibitions, a public summer lecture series, and a collaborative summer program for young and emerging artists from a variety of disciplines. As a unique center for all the arts working in collaboration, The Watermill Center has been called "the academy of the 21st-Century" by anthropologist Edmund Carpenter, and described by the New York Times as a contemporary " Bayreuth minus the nationalism and the exclusive dedication to the founder's work," In the manner of The

Pina Bausch Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as . Bausch's approach was noted for a stylized blend of dance m ...

Foundation in

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and tow ...

, Germany, The Watermill Center is both a study center for research on Wilson's theater and a workspace for creative development. Wilson himself has described Watermill as "a think tank, a contemplative arcade where all kinds of different things can happen."Visionary's Creations Flow From Center in Water Mill - NYTimes.com
/ref> The Watermill Center is home to The Robert Wilson Archive, The Watermill Study Library, and The Watermill Collection, with notable works of art from Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, indigenous peoples of the Arctic, pre-modern China, and

Shaker furniture __NOTOC__ Shaker furniture is a distinctive style of furniture developed by the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, commonly known as Shakers, a religious sect that had guiding principles of simplicity, utility and honesty. ...

, as well as works of modern and contemporary artists and designers like

Paul Thek Paul Thek (November 2, 1933 – August 10, 1988) was an American painter, sculptor and installation artist. Thek was active in both the United States and Europe, exhibiting several installations and sculptural works over the course of his life. Po ...

, Robert Mapplethorpe, Christopher Knowles,

Donald Judd Donald Clarence Judd (June 3, 1928February 12, 1994) was an American artist associated with minimalism (a term he nonetheless stridently disavowed).Tate Modern websit"Tate Modern Past Exhibitions Donald Judd" Retrieved on February 19, 2009. In ...

Gio Ponti Giovanni "Gio" Ponti ( ͡ʒo18 November 1891 – 16 September 1979) was an Italian architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, teacher, writer and publisher. During his career, which spanned six decades, Ponti built more than a ...

Josef Hoffmann Josef Hoffmann (15 December 1870 – 7 May 1956) was an Austrian- Moravian architect and designer. He was among the founders of Vienna Secession and co-establisher of the Wiener Werkstätte. His most famous architectural work is the Stoclet Pa ...

, and Wilson. In 2013, The

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in Paris staged "Living Rooms," a major exhibition incorporating works from The Watermill Collection throughout the museum's galleries.Bob Wilson, un Américain à Paris multiples - Culture / Next
/ref> The Watermill Center has been the site of exhibitions of artists such as Mike Kelley,

Jonathan Meese Jonathan Meese (born January 23, 1970 in Tokyo) is a German painter, sculptor, performance artist and installation artist based in Berlin and Hamburg. Meese's (often multi-media) works include paintings, collages, drawings and writing. He also ...

,Jonathan Meese, an Eclectic Artist With a Staple Gun, Takes Over the Watermill Center - The New York Times
/ref> and Dieter Meier. In 2015, the Inga Maren Otto Fellowship was established to support international artists-in-residence at the Watermill Center.http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2015/10/08/qa-robert-wilson-on-the-watermill-centers-new-fellowship/ The Watermill Center is operated by the Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation, a not-for-profit, 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization chartered in 1969 in the State of New York.

History

Robert Wilson first created performance works specific to sites on Eastern Long Island in the late 1960s. In 1962, Wilson founded the Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds, a performance company which collaborated on all of his early works, including ''Deafman Glance, The Life and Times of Sigmund Freud, The King of Spain, The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin'', and ''KA MOUNTAIN and GUARDenia Terrace''. Notable collaborators of the Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds included Gordon Matta Clark, Jack Smith, Sheryl Sutton, and

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

. During this period, Robbins was creating ''

Watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

'', a ballet with music by

Teiji Ito was a Japanese composer and performer. He is best known for his scores for the avant-garde films by Maya Deren. Early life Ito was born in Tokyo, Japan to a theatrical family. His mother, Teiko Ono, was a dancer and his father, Yuji Ito, was ...

, with early rehearsals and workshops taking place outdoors in

Water Mill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production ...

, New York. Wilson was Robbins's assistant at the time. Previously, Wilson had apprenticed under architect

Paolo Soleri Paolo Soleri (21 June 1919 – 9 April 2013) was an Italian-born American architect. He established the educational Cosanti Foundation and Arcosanti. Soleri was a lecturer in the College of Architecture at Arizona State University and a National ...

at the experimental community of

Arcosanti Arcosanti is a projected experimental town with a bronze bell casting business in Yavapai County, central Arizona, United States, north of Phoenix, at an elevation of . Its arcology concept was proposed by Italian-American architect Paolo S ...

in Arizona. In 1992, Wilson acquired The Watermill Center's current facilities, which had previously housed a telecommunications laboratory for

Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company cha ...

, and began to stage experimental performances on site. Early collaborators in these works included

Trisha Brown Trisha Brown (November 25, 1936 – March 18, 2017) was an American choreographer and dancer, and one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theater and the postmodern dance movement. Brown’s dance/movement method, with which she and her dancer ...

and Susan Sontag, and Philip Glass and

Lucinda Childs Lucinda Childs (born June 26, 1940) is an American postmodern dancer/ choreographer and actress. Her compositions are known for their minimalistic movements yet complex transitions. Childs is most famous for being able to turn the slightest mov ...

, who had previously collaborated with Wilson on ''

Einstein on the Beach ''Einstein on the Beach'' is an opera in four acts composed by Philip Glass and directed by theatrical producer Robert Wilson, who also collaborated with Glass on the work's libretto. The opera eschews traditional narrative in favor of a formali ...

'', and others. Author

Brad Gooch Brad Gooch (born 1952) is an American writer. Biography Born and raised in Kingston, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor's degree in 1973 and a doctorate in 1986. Gooch has lived in New York City since 1971. His 2 ...

worked at Watermill on a production of ''

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...

'', staged by Wilson in 1995, and

Isabelle Huppert Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert (; born 16 March 1953) is a French actress. Described as "one of the best actresses in the world", she is known for her portrayals of cold and disdainful characters devoid of morality. She is the recipient of sev ...

rehearsed her role in Virginia Woolf's ''

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

'' in 1993, returning in 2006 to act in Heiner Müller's ''Quartet''. In 2000 Watermill was the origin point for a production of '' Lady from the Sea'' and in 2003–04, Wilson's epic theater work ''

I La Galigo ''I La Galigo'' is music-theater work by Robert Wilson that has been shown since 2004 in Asia, Europe, Australia and the United States. It is based on an adaption by Rhoda Grauer of the epic creation myth Sureq Galigo of the Bugis from South Su ...

'' with a cast of 53 Indonesian actors was developed there. Other notable productions initiated by Wilson with students at The Watermill Center include ''Time Rocker'' with music by Lou Reed, Jean Genet's '' Les Negres'', Eugene Ionesco's ''

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species ...

'', Giuseppe Verdi's '' La Traviata'', Claudio Monteverdi's '' The Coronation of Poppea'', ''HAMLET: a monlogue'', '' Lady from the Sea'', and ''Adam's Passion,'' with music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.Le Watermill Center de Robert Wilson - Opéra national de Paris
/ref>

Design

When Wilson acquired The Watermill Center facilities in 1992, he began a total renovation of the original structure of the Western Union laboratory on which it was founded. The Watermill Center has received numerous accolades and recognitions for its designed minimalism and theatricality. Following certain precepts of

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

design (Wilson was a student of Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, architectural scholar and spouse to Bauhaus artist

László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the ...

), Watermill's design influences also include the traditional architecture of Indonesia, as well as certain structural ideas Wilson incorporates in his theater productions. The Watermill Center is situated on a 10-acre campus consisting of gardens, natural environments, and permanent installations of wooden sculptures and megalithic stones from Indonesia.

Programs

;Artist Residency Program The Watermill Center hosts over 200 artists every year as part of its interdisciplinary Artist in Residence program. Combining international outreach with support for local practitioners, previous residencies have featured artists from the Shinnecock Indian Nation, British sound artist Oliver Beerhttp://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2015/08/26/watermill-center-names-5-new-artists-in-residence/ , artist

Geoffrey Farmer Geoffrey Farmer (born 1967) is best known for extensive multimedia installations made of cut-out images which form collages. Life Early career Farmer was born on Eagle Island, BC in 1967. His career as an artist was unplanned, but he attended an ...

(Canadian Pavilion commission for the 2017

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

), American author Ishmael Reed and German artist

Jorinde Voigt Jorinde Voigt is a German artist, best-known for large-scale drawings that develop complex notation systems derived from music, philosophy, and phenomenology. She is a professor of Conceptual Drawing and Painting at thUniversity of Fine Arts H ...

. Artist residencies culminate with "In Process" events, which are open to the public. ;International Summer Program With over 100 participating artists annually, the International Summer Program is an alternative approach to arts education, defying method-learning and academicism in favor of collaboration and experimentation.Robert Wilson und sein Hörspielprojekt am Watermill Center , Hörspiel & Feature , SWR2 , SWR.de
/ref>La tour de Babel selon Bob Wilson – Madame Figaro
/ref> ;Inga Maren Otto Fellowship The Watermill Center's Fellowship program was established with a gift by philanthropist Inga Maren Otto. 2020 * Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa - Guatemala * Tomashi Jackson - USA * Pawel Althamer - Poland * Ville Andersson - Finland 2019 *

Marina Rosenfeld Marina Rosenfeld is an American composer, sound artist and visual artist based in New York City.

- USA * Lars Daniel Rehn - Sweden *

Shaun Gladwell Shaun Gladwell (born 1972) is an Australian contemporary artist whose work spans moving image, painting, photography, sculpture, installation, performance and virtual reality. Early life Gladwell was born in Sydney in 1972 and graduated from Syd ...

- Australia/UK * Dawn Kasper - USA * Lucien Smith - USA 2018 *

Anne Carson Anne Carson (born June 21, 1950) is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, classicist, and professor. Trained at the University of Toronto, Carson has taught classics, comparative literature, and creative writing at universities across the Unit ...

- USA *

Tania Bruguera Tania Bruguera (born 1968 in Havana, Cuba) is an artist and activist who focuses on installation and performance art. She lives and works between New York City and Havana, and has participated in numerous international exhibitions. Her work is i ...

- Cuba * Masako Miki - Japan * Barthelemy Toguo - Cameroon 2017 *

Carrie Mae Weems Carrie Mae Weems (born April 20, 1953) is an American artist working in text, fabric, audio, digital images and installation video, and is best known for her photography. She achieved prominence through her early 1990s photographic project ''Th ...

- USA * Royce Weatherly - USA * Carlos Bunga - Portugal 2016 * G.T. Pellizzi - Mexico / USA * Basco Vazko - Chile * Zeinab Shahidi Marnani - Iran Watermill Center performance work 08-15-2016

Watermill Center performance work 08-15-2016

;Annual Summer Benefit and Auction Every summer since 1993, the Watermill Center has hosted an outdoor performance festival showcasing the work of hundreds of young artists and drawing an audience of notable guests from New York and elsewhere. Called "without a doubt, the most creative art event for the Hamptons summer colony," by the New York Times, the benefit has featured performances by the likes of

Rufus Wainwright Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded 10 studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set ...

, and

CocoRosie CocoRosie is an American musical group formed in 2003 by sisters Sierra Rose "Rosie" and Bianca Leilani "Coco" Casady. The group's music has been described as folktronica, freak folk and "New Weird America", and incorporates elements of pop, blu ...

, with installations of artwork by Dieter Meier,

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

Daniel Arsham Daniel Arsham (born 1980) is an American artist. He lives and works in New York City. Early life and education Born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Miami, Florida, Arsham was 12 when Hurricane Andrew destroyed his childhood home. This trau ...

Pussy Riot Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in August 2011, it has had a membership of appr ...

, and others. ;Summer Lecture Series A public forum featuring prominent figures in the arts, design, and science, including: Philip Glass,

Fern Mallis Fern Mallis (born March 26, 1948 in Brooklyn, New York) was the executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) from 1991–2001, and created 7th on Sixth productions or New York Fashion Week as it is known today. She was ...

, Jeffrey A. Hoffman,

Marina Abramović Marina Abramović ( sr-Cyrl, Марина Абрамовић, ; born November 30, 1946) is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist. Her work explores body art, endurance art, feminist art, the relationship between the performer and audi ...

Cornel West Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society an ...

, Hilton Als, Daniel Libeskind, and others.http://blogs.artinfo.com/artintheair/2014/07/28/hilton-als-and-daniel-libeskind-among-speakers-in-the-watermill-centers-summer-lectures/ ;Educational Programs The Watermill Center hosts a variety of educational programs in service to the public schools in

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, East Hampton,

Sag Harbor Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiner's Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2 ...

, and The Ross School.

Performances and Exhibitions

In 2008 German artist

was given carte blanche to create "Marlene Dietrich in Dr. No's Ludovico-Clinic (Dr. Baby's Erzland)", an immersive installation within The Watermill Center. Watermill Center outdoor performance

In 2012, The Watermill Center held the first posthumous exhibition for Detroit-born artist Mike Kelley, curated by Harald Falckenberg. The exhibition featured early experimental soundtracks and videos as well as works from Kelley's "Kandor" series. The Exhibition, "Mike Kelley: 1954-2012," was voted "Best show in a non-profit gallery or alternative space" in 2012 by the

International Association of Art Critics The International Association of Art Critics (''Association Internationale des Critiques d’Art'', ''AICA'') was founded in 1950 to revitalize critical discourse, which suffered under Fascism during World War II. Affiliated with UNESCO AICA was ad ...

. In 2014 The Watermill Center held the first American exhibition of Robert Wilson's Video Portraits of

. The exhibition had debuted in 2013 at the

in Paris. Other notable exhibitions and installations include "As We Lay Dying", a large scale theatrical installation by the Bruce High Quality Foundation in 2016,

Kembra Pfahler Kembra Pfahler (born August 4, 1961 in Hermosa Beach, California, United States) is an American filmmaker, performance artist, visual artist, adjunct professor, rock musician, and film actress. Her film work is associated with the movement known ...

in 2012, Genesis P-Orridge in 2010, Brazilian street artists OSGEMEOS in 2005, Chinese artist

Cao Fei Cao Fei ( zh, 曹斐; born 1978) is a Chinese multimedia artist born in Guangzhou. Her work, which includes video, performance, and digital media, examines the daily life of Chinese citizens born after the Cultural Revolution. Her work explores Chi ...

in 2004, American sculptor Carol Ross in 2013, Cuban performance artist

, Russian performance artist Andrey Bartenev. Artists who have worked and exhibited at Watermill include:

Nari Ward Nari Ward (born 1963 in St. Andrew, Jamaica) is an American artist based in New York City. His work is often composed of found objects from his neighborhood, and "address issues related to consumer culture, poverty, and race". He is a distingui ...

Cory Arcangel Cory Arcangel (born May 25, 1978) is an American post-conceptual artist who makes work in many different media, including drawing, music, video, performance art, and video game modifications, for which he is best known. Arcangel often uses the ...

Liz Glynn Liz Glynn (born 1981) is an American artist. She is originally from Boston and now works out of Los Angeles. Much of her work is sculptural and installation-based, incorporating found objects and materials. Her work deals with institutional cri ...

Misaki Kawai Misaki Kawai (河井美咲) (born 1978 in Ōkawa, Kagawa, Japan) is a Japanese artist. Her work has been shown extensively in the United States. "Her father was an architect and amateur painter and her mother made clothing and puppets" Kawai cr ...

, Peter Coffin,

, Ragnar Kjartansson, Christopher Knowles, Ryan McNamara, John Bock, Sue de Beer,

Matt Mullican Matt Mullican (born September 18, 1951) is an American artist and educator. He is the child of artists Lee Mullican and Luchita Hurtado. Mullican lives and works in both Berlin and New York City. Early life and education Matt Mullican was b ...

Shirin Neshat Shirin Neshat ( fa, شیرین نشاط; born March 26, 1957 in Qazvin) is an Iranian visual artist who lives in New York City, known primarily for her work in film, video and photography. Her artwork centers on the contrasts between Islam and th ...

, William Pope.L, Alvin Baltrop,

Tilda Swinton Katherine Matilda Swinton (born 5 November 1960) is a British actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition t ...

, Alvin Lucier, Tony Matelli,

, Jim Jarmusch, Oliver Beer, Stephen Laub,

Kirk Knight Kirlan Labarrie (born November 16, 1995), better known by his stage name Kirk Knight, is an American record producer, rapper and member of the hip hop collective Pro Era. His debut project, ''Late Knight Special ''Late Knight Special'' is the ...

Cleon Peterson Cleon (; grc-gre, Κλέων, ; died 422 BC) was an Athenian general during the Peloponnesian War. He was the first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, although he was an aristocrat himself. He strongly advocat ...

, Jack Ferver, Tori Wraanes, Noel McKenna, Enric Ruiz Geli, and Wang Qingsong. One gallery of The Watermill Center is dedicated to a permanent exhibition for the work of American artist

.Watch and Listen , Whitney Museum of American Art
/ref>

References

General references

* * * Macián, José Enrique, Sue Jane Stocker, and Jörn Weisbrodt, eds. (2011). ''The Watermill Center – A Laboratory for Performance: Robert Wilson's Legacy''. Stuttgart: DACO-VERLAG. * *{{cite book, last1=Kalb, first1=Jonathan, title=Play by Play: Theater Essays and Reviews, 1993-2002, date=2003, publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation, pages=117–125 Theatres in New York (state) Arts centers in New York (state) 1992 establishments in New York (state)