PhD DISSERTATION Study of Robert Wilson’s Creative Process. (Estudio del proceso de creación en la obra de Robert Wilson) is a dissertation on director/visual artist Robert Wilson's work (Part 1), and creative process (Part 2). Title: Estudio del proceso de creación en la obra de Robert Wilson. Language: Spanish. Author: Pedro Valiente. Director: José Ramón Pérez Ornia. Program: Audiovisual Creativity and Production. Department: Audiovisual Communication and Publicity. School: Faculty of Information Sciences. University: Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Date: December 2000, presentation before a Jury formed by PhD professors from four universities in Spain. Highest mark: cum laude [sobresaliente cum laude por unanimidad]. Published in 2003 on E-prints by Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Available on academic platforms. BOOKS based on PhD dissertation: Robert Wilson. Planetary Performing Arts (RW. Arte escénico planetario) published; Suspended Time Space. Robert Wilson’s Creative Process (Tiempo espacio suspendido. Proceso de creación de Robert Wilson) upcoming.

ABSTRACT I Study of the Creative Process in the Work of Robert Wilson presents an investigation into one of the most influential multidisciplinary creators in the performing arts at the end of the twentieth century. The first part, 'Robert Wilson and the Scenic Avant-Garde in the Context of Contemporary Art,' is a comparative study between Wilson and other creators and artistic movements. It also includes a breakdown of the fundamental traits of his theatrical, audiovisual, and visual work, along with a final essay framing his work within certain forms of ritual art. In the second part, 'Aesthetic Evolution of Robert Wilson through Death Destruction Detroit: 1979, 1987, 1999,' the focus is on the core of Wilson's style: the creative process, using different versions of a production as a reference, spanning the three decades in which Wilson has developed his work. Additionally, the text includes writings about Wilson and his main collaborators, a reference to the Spanish scenic avant-garde, and the catalog of his work. I Universidad Complutense de Madrid

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Study of Robert Wilson's Creative Process

“Art is not always seen; it is sometimes heard in silence or felt through stillness In his PhD dissertation, Pedro Valiente explores the elusive creative world of Robert Wilson, a director who transforms time, space, and light into poetic structure. Tracing Wilson’s evolving practice over three decades, this work becomes both a rigorous study and a meditation on vision, mapping the invisible mechanisms behind one of contemporary theater’s most singular voices.

The dissertation is divided into two parts. The first situates Wilson within a broad theoretical and historical context, aligning his work with ritual forms, postdramatic aesthetics, and the visual arts. Key features —such as durational composition, sculptural light, and the suppression of narrative are examined comparatively to reveal the consistent principles beneath Wilson’s evolving style.

The second part turns inward to examine Wilson’s creative process, with The Days Before: Death Destruction and Detroit III as its core case study. Through rehearsal notes, visual scores, and personal collaboration, Valiente reconstructs a system of creation that privileges image over text, gesture over action, and sound as architecture. The result is a choreographic approach to perception, which suspends time and redraws the audience’s relationship to space and story.

Valiente’s work traces Wilson’s distinctive universe, and proposes a methodology for understanding contemporary creation as a system of intermedial and temporal relationships. It contributes to performance studies and artistic research by combining analysis with practical insight, offering a rare internal view into Wilson’s ’thinking in images.’ Also, it reframes directing as compositional thinking and contributes a vital model for studying visual dramaturgy in today’s interdisciplinary stage practice.” Site I E-print I EXTERNAL REVIEW