Completed in 2006, The Watermill Center combines performance and rehearsal sites with working and communal living spaces. Its flexible and multi-purpose interiors house formal and informal performance spaces, an extensive reference library, kitchen/dining facilities and a dormitory. The Watermill Center Collection of art and artifacts is exhibited throughout the 20,000+ square foot building. The Center is situated on over ten acres of wooded and landscaped grounds in a unique, rural setting.
The Center does not provide a traditional theater or studio environment. The main studio spaces have black-stained hardwood floors, white walls, and many windows. There is no separation between studio and gallery or living and working spaces, and The Watermill Collection is carefully curated throughout The Center. Artists have the unique opportunity to work amongst these museum pieces and to work with The Center staff to re-curate their environments. Watermill encourages artists to engage with the collection and architecture, and to explore all facets of The Center, inside and out.
For rental inquires, please email jillian.maxwell@watermillcenter.org
GROUNDS & GARDENS
Surrounding The Watermill Center’s facility are over ten acres of verdant lawns, pebbled terraces, gardens and outdoor stages. In past years, support of our Garden Campaign has enabled us to design and execute rooftop, meditation and sculpture gardens for our artists and most recently a wildflower meadow in honor of Clementine Hunter.
THE LIBRARY
The Watermill Center Library is open to researchers, artists, students and visitors year-round. The print collection is comprised of approximately 9,000 titles, including bound volumes, exhibition catalogs and periodicals. A singularly unique and unifying thread that connects the varied resources is the artistic direction of Robert Wilson.
The Library collection allows one to gain a better understanding of traditional and contemporary art-making practices from around the world. The cultural diversity of subjects range from ancient art to modern and contemporary visual art, architecture, design, and performance. Special collection focal points include theater, dance, and music; tribal arts of Africa, the Americas, Asia and the South Pacific; and photography. The library contains many rare books and limited editions, as well as international publications on Western and non-Western art. Alongside materials on Robert Wilson and his collaborators, one finds research books used by Wilson; these inform a visual vocabulary found in his productions, such as Einstein on the Beach and the CIVIL wars.
To explore our book catalog, click here.
The Watermill Center Study Library is open to the public by appointment. Please contact us at visit@watermillcenter.org to schedule your visit.
THE COLLECTION
The Watermill Collection serves as a source of inspiration to Artists-in-Residence in the development of their work, enabling them to live alongside the history of global cultures and artistic movements. The Collection is one way in which Founder and Artistic Director Robert Wilson explores the relationship between the human body and its surrounding space, drawing upon a vast and continuously expanding inventory of images, objects, texts, music, and gestures.
The Collection houses pieces from various Indonesian cultures, and by contemporary artists such as Paul Thek, Donald Judd, Bruce Nauman, Agnes Martin, and Richard Serra. The Collection also includes one of the largest privately-held collections of chairs by important designers such as Carlo Bugatti, Gerrit Rietveld, Charles Eames, Gio Ponti, Shiro Kuramata, as well as original designs by Robert Wilson himself. The Collection is unique in its careful juxtaposition of diverse objects from different cultures and historical periods, emphatically transcending the distinction between high and low culture, between art and the everyday. Each work derives its significance through its dialogue with other objects in a carefully controlled arrangement. The Collection is an important thread in the fabric of life at The Center.
The Watermill Center Collection is curated by Noah Khoshbin.
THE LIBRARY OF INSPIRATION
Our new Library of Inspiration initiative is a digital project which supports artistic practice and engagement at The Center. This visual research tool allows resident artists and researchers to explore Watermill’s collection of art and artifacts; documentation of new works created on site; the archives of artist Robert Wilson and his collaborators; and the supporting research collection of books. Dynamic linking and tagging allow patrons to note creative relationships and document their own research process. Access to the Library of Inspiration is limited to Watermill artists, collaborators and visitors on site in the library.
To learn more, please contact our Archivist at library@watermillcenter.org
ROBERT WILSON ARCHIVES
The Archives of Robert Wilson, The Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation and The Watermill Center provide a unique paper, photographic, audio-visual and digital record of artistic and administrative activities, not to mention the arc of experimental performance and opera in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. These records span from 1963 to the present day, from Wilson’s earliest New York performances to recent Watermill residencies and international exhibitions. The archives are housed primarily in New York City and are accessible to scholars and collaborators by appointment.
Over the last six years, the Archives have endeavored to increase access to select materials. The first step in this direction is a finding aid for paper records from Wilson’s productions. The first of eight archival catalogs to be published over the next two years is viewable at the link below, detailing 260 linear feet of manuscript holdings including sketches, staging documentation, theater correspondence, programs, and press. In the future, finding aids including those for exhibition papers, print photographs, and early records of the Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds will be accessible through the below link.
Click here to view our archive catalog!
Under the headlines Collection Organization and Container Inventory it is possible to view discrete listings of archival content. These materials can be studied in person at the Foundation offices in New York City and in special cases may be digitized on demand (pending approval). Please provide the archivist with at least 48 hours’ response time for any requests.