Robert Wilson’s poetic technical experimentation took place at the beginning of the 1980’s when the artist, whom The New York Times called “a milestone in international experimental theater,” met Akio Morita, Sony’s co-founder, and together they investigated the possibility of remaking the classical concept of a portrait in the form of a mini-sketch.

Subsequently, with the development of technologies, Wilson asked Voom HD Networks to produce his project. Over the years, this leading American company in the area of high-definition images, has produced all the master’s work. In fact, the medium used to produce them is high-definition, 1:1-scale vertical-oriented video, nearly the full size of a human. The subject is placed between a video and a photograph, and a series of frames is presented in succession in which movements and sounds are nearly imperceptible. “At times when we are still, we are even more aware of movement than when we make external gestures. These portraits instead explore internal movement. It’s a way of hearing each other from the inside,” explains Robert Wilson, who even in this context has not forgotten his theatrical background, and has asked several celebrities to play different roles.

Johnny Depp©courtesy of VOOM HD
Carolina Di Monaco©courtesy of VOOM HD

These include Johnny Depp who becomes Marcel Duchamp portraying Rose Sélavy in the famous Man Ray photograph; Winona Ryder dressed as Winnie, the ordinary woman who is submerged in a mountain of objects in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days; or Caroline of Monaco who portrays the elegance of her mother, the actress Grace Kelly, in Hitchcock’s Rear Window. In fact, the works combine elements from painting, design, architecture, fashion, dance, theater, television and cinema and also involve the world of music in the form of sound tracks for the portraits with artists of the caliber of Lou Reed or Tom Waits.

This is a portfolio of the best photographs taken from a work that started with photographic esthetics and was transformed into video art. It is a reflection of the artist’s attempt to achieve an extraordinary visual impact, which Robert Wilson has decided to take on tour in many museums worldwide from the US to Spain, and from Germany to Italy where the tour will be in Palazzo Reale from June 15 to September 6.

VOOM Portraits Coming Dates
June 19 - September 6
Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum
Graz, Austria