Guest Editors 2010

Robert Wilson: Video Portraits

Experimental theatre director, designer, and choreographer, Robert Wilson has been exploding conventional notions of portraiture since 2006. Everyone from Isabella Rossellini and Johnny Depp to an owl and an elderly car mechanic has fronted his lens, with results that mix photography, film and sculpture to extraordinary, and often hilarious, effect.

Thanks to his stint as Wallpaper* guest editor this month, Wilson’s video portraits have taken on a new guise on the pages of the magazine. With the help of a nifty piece of acetate and the pre-cinema technique of OmbroCinema, many of them now animate the pages of our October issue. ‘What we’ve tried to do with the magazine is to make it more dimensional,’ he explains. ‘The new technology we’re using brings the images to life, creating something that’s more interactive and allowing the reader to be a participant in the composition.’

Of course, online we have the beauty of video. But, true to Wallpaper* form, we haven’t stopped there. Using photos taken from the video portraits’ touring exhibition across the globe (from Ace Gallery in Los Angeles to the National Museum of Singapore), we’ve literally 'installed' Wilson’s works in their museum or gallery setting. So now you can feel the force of what it would be like to be before these works of art in all their sculptural splendour. Click on the portraits to see them play, turn up the volume and watch very carefully.

Wilson’s video portraits are also coming to life on the newest addition to the Wallpaper* platform: our ‘Directors’ Cut’ iPad app. Find out more here.

View credits

DIRECTOR
Robert Wilson
CO-DIRECTION
Noah Khoshbin
PRODUCERS
Matthew Shattuck, Chris Green, Esther Gordon
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Ali Hossaini
EDITOR
Lannie Lorence
LIGHTING DESIGNER
Urs Schönebaum
DIGITAL IMAGE TECHNICIAN
JM Hurley
COSTUME / STYLIST
Kevin Santos
HAIR / MAKEUP
Alexis Kelly, Kabuki, Mike Potter
SET DESIGNER
Andrew Reznik, Eugene Tsai
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
JM Hurley, Lionel Kerquistel, Richard Rutkowski, Wyatt Troll, James Callanan, Richard Hinkels
STILL PHOTOGRAPHER
Pavel Antonov
PRODUCTION COMPANY
Dissident Industries, New York