Robert Wilson Honored At The White House

Today, on September 12, 2023, Robert Wilson was honored, along with two other the recipients of the 34th Praemium Imperiale, Vija Celmins and Wynton Marsalis, in a ceremony at the White House hosted by First Lady Jill Biden, with remarks by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, David Rockefeller Jr., and Hisashi Hieda, Chairman of the Japan Art Association. Secretary Clinton introduced Wilson as a “true pioneer: he has created some of the most important and memorable works in contemporary theater and opera. With his stunning set designs, his arresting lighting, his innovative choreography, he helped reinvent a stage where time and space are redrawn, and the experience of narrative is reimagined.”

Watch the ceremony here:

The actual award ceremony of the prestigious Praemium Imperiale, which is often considered “the world’s most prestigious arts prize,” will take place in Tokyo on October 17 and 18. The Praemium Imperiale is awarded annually by the Japan Art Association in honor of Prince Takamatsu in five different fields: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Music and Theater/Film. In addition to Celmins (Painting), Marsalis (Music), and Wilson (Theater), this year’s laureates will also include Olafur Eliasson (Sculpture) and Diébédo Francis Kéré (Architecture).

Some impressions from the White House event on September 12:

Yes There No Where to open in Monheim-on-Rhine

Early conceptual sketch

This weekend will see the inauguration of a permanent outdoor art and sound installation by Robert Wilson, entitled “Yes There No Where,” in the city of Monheim am Rhein. The work, situated in the idyllic Marienburg Park not far from the river Rhine, opens within the sound art festival “Monheim Triennale II.” After the festival closes on July 2, the installation will remain there permanently, open and free to the public.

For more information click here.

Remaining dates during the Monheim Triennale II festival:

UBU: A Radio Play Version

Last fall, the Es Baluard Museum in Palma de Mallorca presented Robert Wilson’s work UBU, which was inspired by Alfred Jarry’s drama Ubu Roi, a 1896 grotesque about tyranny, greed and abuse of power. In preparation of the presentation of the work at the co-producing Kunstfest Weimar this coming August, Wilson developed a radio play on UBU for the German radio station Deutschlandfunk Kultur, starring actress and long-time Wilson collaborator Angela Winkler. The first public broadcast will be on May 21, 2023, and the work will also be available online and in Deutschlandfunk’s podcast collection. More information here.

Angela Winkler and Robert Wilson at the Deutschlandfunk’s recording studio.(Photographs © Deutschlandradio / Gerald Michel)