"I arrived at Robert Wilson’s world by chance —perhaps in the same way that men and women stumble upon great discoveries in life. I arrived with the transparent innocence that only tireless travelers possess, driven by the desire to explore extraordinary territories of the mind and spirit.

In New York, academic research brought me closer to one of the true geniuses of contemporary performing and visual arts. I admire Robert Wilson’s work and feel privileged to have been —even in the smallest way— a part of his creative process. But this book is neither a tribute nor an exercise in blind adulation. I have made every effort to avoid excessive personalization of judgments, steering clear of uncritical praise. Instead, I use Wilson’s work as a gateway to explore contemporary arts. Few artists, like this visionary director from Texas, have ventured so fearlessly across multiple disciplines —avant-garde theater, modern opera, contemporary dance, visual art, and audiovisual technology. He approaches each with generosity and honesty, always guided by a multicultural perspective, an experimental spirit, and a fusion of languages that define 20th century art: uncertain, hybrid, and global.

For readers eager to explore the avant-garde beyond a single figure, this journey through Wilson’s work may serve as an enriching path. And yet, I still wonder why are there so few books about Robert Wilson? Aside from oversized volumes that grace coffee tables, where are the in-depth explorations? But then again, when dealing with the theater of images, who needs printed words? At least Picasso had better luck." — Pedro Valiente [Translated from the book’s prologue]

A Journey Through the Avant-Garde

All is Connected

Robert Wilson. Planetary Performing Arts

"Robert Wilson. Planetary Performing Arts by Pedro Valiente invites readers into the luminous world of Robert Wilson, an artist who redefined the stage as a living canvas where silence, light, and movement converge in unexpected harmony. Far from being a conventional study, the book sets Wilson’s stage language within the 20-21st century art, drawing parallels between his visionary work and the avant-garde. Valiente unpacks Wilson’s signature techniques —his sculptural approach to light, his audacious manipulation of time, and his distilled visual minimalism— revealing how they break down traditional narrative structures, and create new modes of experiencing performance. Through this lens, Wilson emerges as a choreographer of time, and a sculptor of silence.

Grounded in a six-hundred-page doctoral dissertation, the book balances scholarly precision with a sense of wonder at Wilson’s artistry. Valiente’s study is at once analytical and poetic, situating Wilson at the intersection of theater, visual art, music, and architecture. By mapping the guiding strategies in his oeuvre, the author illuminates how Wilson’s work resonates far beyond the stage, making a unique impact on contemporary arts. It is both a critical study and a tribute: a compass for navigating Wilson’s vast creative cosmos, where performance becomes an act of transformation and theater a planetary art form." Site I Ñaque Ed. I EXTERNAL REVIEW